Rules & compliance guide
Plastic packaging rules and taxes: a guide for buyers and exporters
Plastic packaging now carries taxes and rules in most export markets: the UK and Spain tax plastic with too little recycled content, the EU's PPWR sets recycling and recycled-content targets, and EPR schemes charge producers for packaging waste. Each needs evidence of what the pack is made of.
- UK tax exemption30% recycled content
- Recycled-content proofEN 15343 + independent verification
Three kinds of rule
- Taxes on plastic: the UK Plastic Packaging Tax and Spain's tax on non-reusable plastic packaging charge per kilo or tonne, with recycled content reducing or removing the charge.
- Design and recycling rules: the EU's PPWR sets recyclability, recycled-content and labelling requirements for packaging sold in the EU.
- Producer responsibility (EPR): schemes in the EU, UK and India make the brand or importer pay for collecting and recycling its packaging.
What buyers need from a supplier
- The recycled-content percentage per grade, with certification (EN 15343) and independent verification.
- Food-contact documentation for recycled material, including the approval of the recycling process.
- Pack weights per component, for tax and EPR returns. AVI's catalogue lists the empty weight of every pack.
Using this guide
The answers below explain each rule in plain language. They are a starting point, not legal advice: confirm the details for your products with your adviser or the tax authority.
AVI products
- Plastic Tax & EPR Compliance, Market by MarketHow AVI Global Plast helps FMCG and export customers meet plastic tax and EPR recycled-content requirements across...
- Regulatory ComplianceAVI Global Plast's regulatory compliance across export markets — plastic tax, EPR and packaging regulations by country.
- Programmes & CertificationsAVI Global Plast's certifications — ISO 14001, ISO 45001, ISO 9001, ISO 22000, ISO 15378/GMP, BRCGS 7, EN 15343,...
- rPET Sheets for Thermoforming, Printing & PackagingrPET sheet from AVI Global Plast — 30% to 100% recycled content, 150–1,300 micron range, EN 15343 certified for...
Terms in this guide
- EN 15343
- The European standard for traceability and recycled content of recycled plastics. Certification proves a recycled-content percentage with an audit trail.
- EPR (extended producer responsibility)
- Rules that make producers pay for, or organise, the collection and recycling of the packaging they put on the market.
- Food contact material
- Any material meant to touch food. It must meet the rules of its market, including limits on migration into the food.
- Mass balance
- A chain-of-custody method where recycled or bio-based feedstock is mixed with conventional feedstock and the share is allocated by bookkeeping rather than physically separated.
- Migration
- The transfer of substances from packaging into food. Food-contact rules set limits, checked by testing.
- PCR (post-consumer recycled)
- Recycled material from products consumers have used, such as bottles. Pre-consumer recycled material comes from factory scrap.
- Plastic Packaging Tax (UK)
- A UK tax per tonne on plastic packaging with less than 30% recycled content, paid by UK manufacturers and importers.
- PPWR
- The EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, which sets recycling, recycled-content and labelling rules for packaging sold in the EU.