Recently, the German Federal Government issued a decree to establish a single-use plastics (SUP: single-use plastics) fund, which aims to require manufacturers of single-use plastic products to strive to contribute to the removal of waste in parks, streets and other areas.
The decree will come into effect in 2025. At that time, manufacturers of disposable plastic products will pay a certain fee to the management fund of the German Federal Environment Agency every year. The fund will take in 450 million euros in its first year based on the total number of single-use plastic products produced by each producer, including plastic-filtered cigarette products, drinks containers, cups, takeaway food containers and more.
In this regard, the German Food and Drink Federation believes that beverage containers should be exempted because the effective deposit system in Germany has greatly reduced the risk of bottles from being discarded. The SUP Fund Act now shall be passed bythe Bundestag and Bundesrat, and the relevant legal provisions and tax rates are also being drafted by the BMUV.