Environmental fees – planned changes

by Joanna Litwińska

8 July 2021

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The EU Single-Use Plastics Directive entered into force on 3 July 2021. All Member States had to implement the directive into their respective domestic legal systems by that date. Among many other things, the new legislation introduces new environmental fees.

A bill concerning the fee for selected plastic products and products in plastic packaging has been drafted already.

It implements the SUP Directive and introduces the following fees:

• Fee for cups – applicable to cups for beverages and food containers used to contain food which is intended for immediate consumption, either on-the-spot or take-away, is typically consumed from the receptacle, and is ready to be consumed without any further preparation (such as cooking, boiling or heating). The fee will be applicable to (retail and wholesale) commercial enterprises and catering businesses and it will be collected from consumers. The maximum fee amount may be PLN 1 plus VAT but the amount will be eventually specified in a relevant regulation. The fee will be payable to the provincial marshal (marszałek województwa);
• Cleaning-up fee – applicable to marketing of e.g. food containers, packets, elastic wrappers, beverage containers with a capacity of up to three litres, beverage cups, lightweight plastic carrier bags. This fee will be applicable to enterprises which place single-use plastic products on the market. The maximum fee may amount to PLN 0.05 per product placed on the market, but the amount will be eventually specified in a relevant regulation. The fee will be payable to the provincial marshal by 15 March of the year following the year for which the fee is due;
• Educational fee – applicable to marketing of e.g. food containers, packets, elastic wrappers, beverage containers with a capacity of up to three litres, beverage cups, lightweight plastic carrier bags, balloons, fishing gear, sanitary towels, tampons and tobacco products. It will be spent on financing and carrying out public educational campaigns informing consumers about waste. This fee will be applicable to enterprises which place single-use plastic products on the market. It will amount to 0.1% of net revenue from the sale of the abovementioned products;
• Additional fee – may be imposed by the provincial marshal on enterprises which are in default of payment of any of the abovementioned fees. The additional fee amounts to 50% on top of the unpaid fee.

Additional obligations

Furthermore, enterprises will also have other obligations, among other things, to file appropriate reports, to record the purchased and marketed single-use packaging items, to label selected products placed on the market, to establish an authorised representative in another Member State by an entity established in Poland.

The bill also bans marketing of certain single-use products, such as, among others: cotton bud sticks, plastic cutlery, plastic plates, straws, food containers made of expanded polystyrene.

According to the bill, non-compliance with the obligations is punishable with administrative fines.