Chile sets recovery targets by material, Colombia runs producer plans, and Brazil now prices plastic packaging recovery by region

Why Latin America's EPR wave matters now

The timing of the three systems has converged. Chile’s Ley 20.920, published on 1 June 2016, lists “d) Envases y embalajes.” among its six priority products (Art. 10), and its packaging decree targets have run since September 2023 (BCN Ley Chile; MMA Chile). Colombia’s Resolution 1407 has applied since its publication in Diario Oficial 50.673 on 2 August 2018, and Resolution 803 of 2024 folded single-use plastic products into the same plans (Cancillería normograma; Colpensiones normativa). Brazil’s Decree 12.688 took effect on its publication in an extra edition of the Diário Oficial da União on 21 October 2025 (Câmara dos Deputados, publicação original).

Each system also has a different legal rank, which matters for how often it changes. Chile’s targets sit in a supreme decree under a statute, so a change needs a new decree. Colombia’s sit in ministerial resolutions that have been amended twice in six years, by Resolution 1342 of 24 December 2020 and Resolution 803 of 24 June 2024. Brazil’s sit in presidential decrees under Article 33 of Lei 12.305, which says the reverse logistics systems “serão estendidos a produtos comercializados em embalagens plásticas, metálicas ou de vidro” (Planalto, Lei 12.305, Art. 33 §1).

Chile: Ley REP 20.920 and Decree 12

Chile’s framework law defines the producer as whoever first places a priority product on the market, and for packaging that is whoever introduces the packaged good (Ley 20.920, Art. 3). Decree 12 of the Ministry of the Environment, signed on 8 June 2020 and published on 16 March 2021, then sorts packaging into five subcategories: liquid cartons, metal, paper and board, plastic and glass (SPI rule PR-CL-001). A composite pack belongs to a subcategory when at least 85% of its mass is that material (DS 12, Art. 6).

Two exemptions shape who pays. Microenterprises under Law 20.416 are outside EPR, and producers placing “menos de 300 kilogramos de envases al año” carry no targets but still report each year through the RETC registry (DS 12, Arts. 7 and 10). The decree’s recitals estimate about 2,082,396 tonnes of packaging waste a year, of which “sólo un 27%, aproximadamente, se recicla.”, and put the regulation’s benefits at 1.19 times its costs (FAOLEX copy of DS 12, recitals 3, 4 and 11).

The household targets rise every year from 2023 (Exhibit 2). In the first four years, a producer may meet up to 50% of a household subcategory’s target with an equivalent tonnage from other subcategories, except glass (MMA Chile, Módulo 3).

Non-household packaging, such as transport and commercial packs, carries higher and faster targets for three materials only (Exhibit 3). In the first four years, up to 100% of a non-household target may be met with other subcategories, while liquid cartons and glass are always treated as household (MMA Chile, Módulo 3).

The start date is now settled on the text. Article 47 says the decree applies on publication “con la excepción de los Títulos III y IV, los que entrarán en vigencia en el plazo de 30 meses” from publication, unless that date falls after 1 October (FAOLEX copy of DS 12). Thirty months from 16 March 2021 is 16 September 2023, the date the Ministry gives. The Ministry’s page also states that GRANSIC duties apply 36 months from publication, which SPI has not yet reconciled with Article 47.

The GRANSIC tier. A GRANSIC is a collective system of “20 o más productores no relacionados” (DS 12, Art. 2), and it may meet targets with any household packaging waste, not only its members’ (Art. 11). In return it must collect selectively from homes and run receiving and storage facilities in communes above a corrected population threshold (MMA Chile). The Ministry’s training module shows household collection coverage rising from 10% of homes in 2023 to 80% from 2034 (Módulo 3, Table 4).

The open accounting question. On 31 August 2026 the Ministry admitted a request from the recycling industry association ANIR A.G. to invalidate Interpretation No. 1/2025 of 18 June 2025, which lets a GRANSIC with a municipal collection agreement extend that collection to non-household packaging waste (Resolución Exenta 4.910, Diario Oficial, 7 September 2026). Interested parties had 23 business days from publication to be heard, and SPI has not yet confirmed an outcome.

Chile also has a second packaging law that works through shops rather than schemes. Ley 21.368, published on 13 August 2021, requires disposable plastic bottles to contain at least 15% nationally collected recycled plastic by 2025, 25% by 2030, 50% by 2040 and 60% by 2050, and supermarkets to keep at least 30% returnable formats from 54 months after publication (BCN Ley Chile, transitional articles).

Colombia: Resolution 1407, its amendments and Law 2232

Colombia’s packaging EPR began as a ministerial resolution. Resolution 1407 of 26 July 2018 is “Por la cual se reglamenta la gestión ambiental de los residuos de envases y empaques” of paper, board, plastic, glass and metal, and it requires producers to formulate, implement and keep current a Plan de Gestión Ambiental de Residuos de Envases y Empaques (Cancillería normograma). Each producer files an individual plan or joins a collective one with ANLA through its VITAL window, and reports each year (PR-CO-001).

Resolution 1342 of 24 December 2020, published in Diario Oficial 51.541 on 28 December 2020, amended Articles 2, 3, 8, 10, 15, 16 and 18 and replaced all the annexes (Cancillería normograma). It reset the plan deadline: producers existing on 31 December 2018 had to file “a más tardar el 31 de enero de 2021” (Res. 1342, Art. 3). Its recitals record that “del orden del 39% corresponden a residuos principalmente de papel, cartón, vidrio, plástico y metal” in the waste stream it describes.

Resolution 803 of 24 June 2024, published in Diario Oficial 52.799 on 26 June 2024, made the larger change (Exhibit 4). It brought producers and importers of single-use plastic products into the plans, added a separate literal b) with plastics targets to Article 9, and set the base year as “el tercer año anterior al periodo de evaluación” (Res. 803, Arts. 7 and 23). Paper, board, glass and metal recovery may not fall below 70% of their targets, and plastics “no podrá ser menor al 100% de las metas” (Art. 12, para. 2).

The yearly percentages in Resolution 1407’s Tabla 1 and Resolution 803’s Tabla 1-a are images in both consolidated texts, so SPI has not yet confirmed the full series. ANLA’s guidance confirms one point on the curve: for existing producers, the second target, for 2022, is 12% of the weight placed on the market in 2019 (ANLA). The city coverage schedule is in the text: from 2023 producers add “2023 Cúcuta, 2024 Pasto, 2025 Riohacha, 2026 Florencia, 2027 Yopal y 2028 Quibdó” (Res. 1407, Art. 9).

Collective plans have one flexibility that Chile and Brazil lack. Under Article 10, as amended in 2020, a collective plan can add a multicriteria score of at least 110 points, but “No se podrá aplicar la evaluación multicriterio para porcentajes de aprovechamiento menores al 70% de la meta cuantitativa.” (Cancillería normograma).

Law 2232 of 2022 sits on top as a statute passed by Congress (PR-CO-002). Article 6 applies the ban on items 1, 2, 3, 6, 7 and 11 of Article 5, such as checkout bags, straws and cotton bud stems, “al término de los dos años”, and on items 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13 and 14, including takeaway food containers, tableware and fresh-produce packaging, “al término de ocho años”. Article 35 ties the start to promulgation on 7 July 2022, so the second wave falls in July 2030. Article 17 sets the bottle goals (Exhibit 5).

Plastic packaging also carries a tax. Article 51 of Law 2277 of 2022 sets “cero coma cero cero cero cero cinco (0,00005) UVT por cada un (1) gramo” of single-use plastic packaging, and the Constitutional Court upheld the tax in Judgment C-506 of 22 November 2023, striking only a phrase in Article 50 (Ámbito Jurídico copy of the judgment). SPI calculation: that is 50 UVT per tonne of packaging (0.00005 x 1,000,000 grams). SPI has not converted UVT into pesos here; the plastic packaging taxes piece covers taxes by country.

Brazil: PNRS, recycling credits and the 2025 plastic decree

Brazil’s anchor is Lei 12.305 of 2 August 2010, the National Solid Waste Policy (PNRS). Its Article 33 says manufacturers, importers, distributors and traders “São obrigados a estruturar e implementar sistemas de logística reversa”, and §1 extends that duty to goods sold in plastic, metal or glass packaging (Planalto). For a decade the packaging-in-general system ran on a 2015 sectoral agreement with a 22% recovery target (MMA Comunicado 001/2024).

Decree 11.413 of 13 February 2023 added the proof instruments (PR-BR-001). It creates the Certificado de Crédito de Reciclagem de Logística Reversa (CCRLR), the Certificado de Estruturação e Reciclagem de Embalagens em Geral (CERE) and the Certificado de Crédito de Massa Futura (Art. 5, II to IV), revoked Decree 11.044 of 2022 and entered into force on 14 April 2023 (Arts. 33 and 34). Their use has “caráter voluntário” (Art. 2 §2), and only electronic invoices from “o ano fiscal corrente ou no ano fiscal imediatamente anterior” count (Art. 15 §4). Decree 12.451 of 6 May 2025 then barred all three certificates for operations linked to imported solid waste (Art. 5).

Decree 12.688 of 21 October 2025 is the 2024 to 2026 change that matters most for packaging. It regulates Articles 32 §1 and 33 §1 of Lei 12.305 and creates a national reverse logistics system for plastic packaging, covering “as embalagens primárias, secundárias e terciárias e os produtos de plástico equiparáveis” such as plates, cups and cutlery (Art. 1 §1). It excludes plastic packaging already in the pesticide or lubricant systems, packaging under Decrees 10.240 and 10.388 of 2020, and mixed packaging containing paper or board (Art. 2).

The targets are in two annexes (Exhibits 7 and 8). Annex I sets recovery as a percentage of plastic packaging placed on the market by mass, applied to the previous fiscal year’s quantity and allocated by region (Art. 31). Annex II sets recycled content for manufacturers and importers, which does not apply to packaging under specific regulation, including food packaging (Art. 33 §3). Both indices must be met together (Art. 38).

The regional split is the decree’s distinctive feature (Exhibit 8). In 2026 the Southeast carries 15.63 of the 32 national points, or 48.8%, and the North 2.15 points, and by 2040 the Southeast carries 24.42 of 50 (Annex I). The five published regional figures add to 31.99 in 2026 and to 50.00 in 2040.

Decree 12.688 connects to the certificates rather than replacing them. Its Article 12 accepts the CCRLR, the CERE and the future mass certificate as proof for participants in the collective model, and management entities file the prior year’s results by 30 July each year (Art. 6 §2). Importers must join a collective system or run an individual one as a condition of importing and selling (Art. 20). Recycled content becomes mandatory from “janeiro de 2026, para as empresas de grande porte” and “julho de 2026, para as empresas de pequeno e de médio porte.” (Art. 34). Collection points must be installed within four years of publication, one per municipality up to 10,000 inhabitants and one per 10,000 inhabitants above that (Art. 36).

Returnables reduce the target. For every 5% of returnable packaging collected, the recovery target falls by 1 percentage point, up to a reduction of 50% (Art. 32 §4), and surpluses or shortfalls carry over to the next year (Art. 35).

The implementing detail is still arriving. The Ministry consulted on the recyclability index (IREP) under Article 43 from 28 January to 11 February 2026 and again from 3 to 17 March 2026, receiving 590 contributions, and the consultation page refers only to a “proposta de portaria” (SINIR). Its April 2026 webinar presented draft portarias on the Sisrev-BR platform, the IREP and the removal of sorting rejects from cooperatives (SINIR, 16 April 2026). SPI has not yet confirmed in the Diário Oficial a final Sisrev-BR portaria, which a legal publisher lists as Portaria MMA 1.778 of 16 September 2026.

A framework: four design choices that decide the compliance task

Reading the three systems together, SPI groups the differences into four design choices (Exhibit 9). Each choice tells a compliance team what data it must hold and who it depends on. The framework is drawn from the texts above and SPI’s tracker records, and it describes design, not performance.

Choice 1, what is targeted. Chile and Brazil publish every yearly figure in text or annex, while Colombia’s are images. A team can model Chile and Brazil today; for Colombia it needs the image tables or its plan’s approval file.

Choice 2, the base. Brazil uses last year’s sales, Colombia the third year back, and Chile the tonnage placed on the market. The data lag differs by two years between Brazil and Colombia, so a fast-growing brand faces a lower effective burden in Colombia.

Choice 3, the proof. Brazil’s proof is a tradable document resting on invoices, Colombia’s is a filed report backed by transformer certificates, and Chile’s is a system’s own valorisation record. SPI analysis: Brazil is the only one of the three where a producer can buy proof from a market, which makes certificate quality the main risk.

Choice 4, flexibility. Chile’s cross-material allowance ends after the fourth year, 2026 on the Ministry’s count, and from 2027 each material stands alone. On SPI’s reading, that is the main scheduled step in the three systems for the coming year.

Scenarios: the tonnage behind each target

Money is not comparable across the three countries, but tonnage is. SPI applied each published percentage to the same 1,000 tonnes of plastic packaging placed on the market (Exhibit 10). The result is a recovery obligation in tonnes, not a cost.

SPI calculation: Chile’s household plastic obligation more than doubles between 2026 and 2030, from 110 to 230 tonnes per 1,000, while Brazil’s rises by 50 tonnes, from 320 to 370. In 2026 a Chilean household producer may still cover up to 55 of its 110 plastic tonnes with other materials except glass; from 2027 all 140 tonnes must be plastic. By 2040 Brazil reaches 500 tonnes per 1,000, against Chile’s 450 from 2034.

SPI calculation: in Brazil the same 1,000 tonnes also carry a recycled-content duty for a manufacturer or importer: 220 tonnes of recycled plastic in 2026 and 300 in 2030, on Annex II, unless the packaging falls under specific regulation such as food contact (Art. 33 §3).

Penalties stay in each country's own unit

All three systems index fines to a local unit, so the peso or real amount moves each year (Exhibit 11). SPI does not convert or rank them.

Chile’s law states “Las infracciones graves podrán ser objeto de multa de hasta cinco mil unidades tributarias anuales.” (Ley 20.920, Art. 40), and missing targets is a serious infraction. Colombia’s Resolution 1407 has no sanctions article of its own; ANLA states that late or missing plans and missed targets “serán valorados a la luz de la Ley 1333 del 21 de julio de 2009”. In Brazil, Decree 11.413 sets no fines, so the exposure sits with the underlying duty under Decree 6.514 (PR-BR-001). SPI knows of no published sanction under any of the three packaging instruments at 24 October 2026.

What the data does not yet show

Colombia’s plastic numbers. Tabla 1 of Resolution 1407 and Tabla 1-a of Resolution 803 are images in the consolidated texts. Apart from ANLA’s 12% figure for 2022, SPI has not yet confirmed the yearly percentages.

Chile’s system list. The Ministry publishes approved management systems as a spreadsheet updated on 6 November 2025, which SPI has not yet read, so this piece names only ReSimple and GIRO from Ministry-hosted documents.

Brazil’s portarias. The IREP, Sisrev-BR and rejects rules were consultation drafts at the April 2026 webinar. The 90-day deadlines in Decree 12.688 fell on 19 January 2026 by SPI’s count, and SPI has not yet confirmed which final portarias are in force.

Recovery results. None of the three countries publishes a national, material-level recovery series against these targets on the pages SPI consulted. Brazil’s latest national figure in this piece is the 25% for 2022.