The Bundestag has passed the ordinance for the Single-Use Plastic Fund, which sets the levy rates and the payment system.

 

According to the ordinance, which is enshrined in the Single-Use Plastics Fund Act, manufacturers of certain single-use plastic products will have to pay a levy into the fund, which is managed by the Federal Environment Agency (UBA), starting in 2025. This is intended to support cities and municipalities in cleaning up public places and parks from improperly disposed single-use plastic products. Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke says: "Cigarette butts, to-go cups and disposable food containers end up far too often on roadsides, in our parks and forests and are an expression of the pollution crisis. Until now, the costs of cleaning up and disposing of the carelessly discarded throwaway plastic have been borne by the general public. That will change starting in 2024." According to the Federal Environment Ministry (BMUV), the ordinance will create the necessary legal certainty for all stakeholders concerned. According to the BMUV, the levy rates provided for in the ordinance were determined as part of a scientific study by the UBA. The following levies are to be due per kilogram for these products placed on the market:
 

• Tobacco filters: 8.972 euros per kilogram
• To-go beverage cups: 1.236 euros per kilogram
• To-go food containers: 0.177 euros per kilogramme
• Bags and foil packaging: 0.876 euros per kilogram
• Beverage containers without deposit: 0.181 euros per kilogram
• beverage containers with deposit: 0,001 Euro per kilogramme
• Light plastic bags: 3.801 euros per kilogram
• Wet wipes: 0.061 euros per kilogram and
• Balloons: 4.340 euros per kilogram.

 

On the basis of the specified levy rates, each company could now calculate quite specifically the amount of the levy to be paid in the future based on the quantity placed on the market, according to the BMUV. Manufacturers will have to pay the levy for the first time from spring 2025, based on the quantity of products placed on the market in the calendar year 2024. UBA was currently developing the necessary databases for this purpose. Registration of manufacturers and claimants is to start from January 1, 2024. The levy rates and the points system according to which fund resources are paid out to municipalities are to be reviewed by the federal government every three years in accordance with legal requirements. The UBA is commissioning studies to determine the necessary data, and the newly formed Single-Use Plastics Commission, which was constituted for the first time on September 28, 2023, is to be involved in the conceptualization of these studies.
 
Further information: to download the regulation (in German)
 
Sources:

• Pressrelease BMUV (Sept. 29, 2023)
• Photo: unsplash.com, Jasmin Sessler