EU leaders have agreed on a new tax on plastic packaging waste as part of the bloc’s €750-billion ($860 billion) coronavirus pandemic relief package. The tax rate stands at €0.80 ($0.9) per kilogram of non-recycled plastic packaging waste that will be valid from January 1, 2021. The European Commission proposed the tax in 2018 as a new revenue stream that would make up about 4% of the union’s budget.
The draft agreed by EU leaders yesterday does not specify whether the levy is a new tax, that will require unanimous approval by all member states. However, the commission said it would need unanimous approval from the EU’s council of ministers. The commission also indicated that member countries are under no circumstances obliged to implement the measure and can choose to apply other means to raise their required contribution to the EU budget.
German environmental group Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) expressed its support to the new levy but said the rate was too timid. DUH instead urged the EU to target the tax to new, virgin primary plastics in packaging to make it more effective in changing the industry’s direction.
