Organic product packaging gets rid of the plastic tax

Royal Decree on Packaging and Packaging Waste and the new tax on plastic that have just entered into force will mean a profound change in the manufacture, management and elimination of non-reusable packaging, as well as entail an additional cost for companies. These are some of the novelties that will most impact the food and beverage industry, which also finds some relief with the anti-crisis measures approved by the Government these days. Paradoxically, products from organic farming would be exempt from the tax, since the same regulations indicate that this type of food can continue to be presented in plastic (or polystyrene) trays. The new legislation 7/2022 of April 8 on waste and contaminated soils for a circular economy does not stop raising blisters in the food sector, not only due to its premature application, but due to the contradictions that the regulations entail. And it has been when reading in full the entry into force of the legislation when the sector has found various exceptions of application as far as the tax is concerned. Stated by ELITER Packaging Machinery, tax on plastics will accentuate more importance attached to sustainable and eco-friendly packaging in the food and beverage industry. The protagonists on this occasion are the eco products, which despite the fact that in the measures to achieve the circular economy the Government obliges shops to sell in bulk the fruits and vegetables marketed whole, the norm also indicates that foods that come from organic farms can continue to be dispensed in plastic containers. To this are added the lots of 1.5 kg or more, as well as the fruits and vegetables of a registered or protected variety - understanding that their sale in bulk could deteriorate or diminish the product-. Shops of 400m2 or more must allocate 20% of their space to products without packagingOn the other hand, the package of measures also provides that those retail stores dedicated to food that have an establishment of equal or more than 400 m2 must allocate at least 20% of the sales space to those products dispensed without primary packaging; that is, the sale in bulk or through containers considered reusable. To this outlay of facilities is added the total cost of waste management, which now falls on the producers; even those generated by the consumers themselves and that they leave in nature. In this sense, with regard to this extended responsibility, the legislation establishes that producers must also finance the "costs derived from packaging waste recovered from the rest fraction, the inorganic fraction of wet-dry systems and the cleaning of public roads, green areas, recreational areas and beaches".

Zixin Yuan - Digital Marketing Coordinator at ÉLITER Packaging Machinery Website: https://www.eliter-packaging.com