Normative Framework for Packaging Declaration and Packaging Waste

A new regulatory scenario

Spain recently updated its regulations on packaging and packaging waste, in keeping with the objectives of the European Commission to transition to a circular economy.

Royal Decree 1055/2022 on Packaging and Packaging Waste, in force since 29 December 2022, and Law 7/ 2022 on Contaminated Waste and Soil for a Circular Economy, approved in April 2022, provide the new legal framework for our country. They mark a turning point in the management of packaging and its circularity, establishing new obligations and targets for companies and Collective Extended Producer Responsibility Systems (SCRAP), such as Ecoembes.

This regulation will be updated in coming months with the approval of a European Regulation on Packaging and Packaging Waste, a draft for which has been presented for the time being.

 
See the main requirements of Royal Decree 1055/2022

New obligations for companies

Royal Decree 1055/2022 lays out measures that companies must apply individually. These are new obligations and objectives aimed at:

  • Prevention: aspirational targets for reducing the weight and quantity of packaging placed on the market.
  • Reuse: aspirational targets for reusing the different types of packaging in different channels.
  • Marking: new packaging labelling requirements, with mandatory and voluntary information to include, as well as prohibitions.
  • Recycled material: aspirational targets for incorporating recycled material into the different types of packaging.
  • Ecodesign: measures to make packaging more sustainable and reduce its environmental impact.

Collective obligations

The new regulation also has new collective requirements through the concept of Extended Producer Responsibility:

  • Achieve at least the recycling and separate collection targets set.
  • If the early warning targets for the selective collection of plastic beverage bottles of less than 3 liters are not met, establish a DRS to manage them.
  • Finance and organise, in whole or in part, the collection and treatment of single-use packaging waste.

Register of producers

Royal Decree 1055/2022 establishes the obligation for producers to register in the Register of Producers of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, and report information on the packaging they put on the market. The goal of this register is to monitor compliance with the legal obligations of producers in relation to the management of packaging and its waste.

Explore the support service that Ecoembes provides to its companies in relation to the paperwork involving the Register of Producers. 

Special tax on non-reusable plastic packaging

Law 7/2022 establishes a special tax on non-reusable plastic packaging whose goal is to prevent the generation of waste from non-reusable plastic packaging, and to encourage the recycling of plastic waste to contribute to the circularity of this material.

The tax is imposed on the manufacture or import of non-reusable plastic packaging (household, commercial and industrial), as well as on semi-finished products such as preforms and sheets, as well as caps.

The several files containing the national and European rules on packaging waste management are available for consultation and download here.

National Standards

  • Law 7/2022, of April 8, 2022, of waste and contaminated soil for a circular economy.

  • Royal Decree 1055/2022, 27 December, on Packaging and Packaging Waste.

  • Royal Decree 293/2018, 18 May, on reducing the consumption of plastic bags.

  • Law 21/2013, 9 December, on environmental assessment.

European Standards

  • DIRECTIVE (EU) 2019/904 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment, enacted on June 5, 2019.

  • DIRECTIVE (EU) 2018/850 of the European Parliament and of the Council of May 30, 2018, amending Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste.

  • DIRECTIVE (EU) 2018/851 of the European Parliament and of the Council of May 30, 2018, amending Directive 2008/98/EC on waste.

  • DIRECTIVE (EU) 2018/852 of the European Parliament and of the Council of May 30, 2018, amending Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste.

  • SWD(2018) 16 final, Strasbourg, 16.1.2018. Communication from the commission of the European strategy for plastics in a circular economy.

  • Annexes to SWD(2018) 16 final, Strasbourg, 16.1.2018. Communication from the commission of the European strategy for plastics in a circular economy.

  • Directive 2015/720 of the European Parliament and of the Council of April 29, 2015, amending Directive 94/62/EC on reducing the consumption of lightweight carrier plastic bags.

  • DIRECTIVE 2004/12/CE of the European Parliament and of the Council of February 11, 2004, amending Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste.

  • DIRECTIVE 94/62/CE of the European Parliament and of the Council of December 20, 2018, on packaging and packaging waste.