France packaging EPR fees 2026

Citeo collects the French household packaging contribution as the approved eco-organisme for packaging, printed paper and graphic paper whose final holders are households. The approval cites the Code de l'environnement at L. 541-10 and L. 541-10-1 (1°), plus R. 543-53 to R. 543-56 for packaging³. The first arrêté, of 27 December 2023, approved Citeo for 2024 only; the arrêté of 23 December 2024, published in Journal officiel n° 308 on 29 December 2024, stretched the approval to run from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2029³. The operating rules sit in the cahier des charges set by arrêté of 7 December 2023³.

The 2026 guide explains who declares now that Regulation (EU) 2025/40 has applied since 12 August 2026. A company making goods under another firm's brand leaves the declaration to the brand owner, unless the brand owner is a microenterprise; private-label goods are declared by the retailer; and a foreign firm placing packaging in France for the first time must appoint a mandataire¹. Size decides the paperwork: fewer than 10,000 sales units (UVC) a year means a flat declaration, 10,000 to 500,000 a simplified one, and above 500,000 a line-by-line UVC declaration¹.

The money mainly pays French local authorities. Citeo's 2024 accounts put 78% of contributions into collection and sorting, 7% into litter and out-of-home waste, 5% into support and operations, 4% into plastics development streams, 3% into reuse, 2% into public awareness and 1% into sector actions¹. For 2025 Citeo reports EUR 1,460 million of household packaging contributions, 5,306 kt declared, EUR 971.6 million of support paid to local authorities and a 73% household packaging recycling rate⁴.

Citeo builds the 2026 schedule from the objectives in its cahier des charges and the regulatory constraints on the filière, and warns that the rates can be revised if regulation changes or public authorities ask¹. The weight part is charged per material in euro cents per kilogram (SPI converts to EUR per tonne), then per-unit parts and percentage bonuses and maluses are applied to the total per-unit contribution¹. The calendar is fixed: tariff and eco-modulation are announced in September of the year before the packaging is placed on the market¹.

For 2026 Citeo raised five maluses and removed five others¹. It ties the plastic reduction effort to the national 3R framework, in which Décret n° 2021-517 measures single-use plastic packaging against 2018 tonnages and channels the targets into eco-modulated fees⁵. The minimum charge also moved: the flat fee for fewer than 10,000 UVC is EUR 110 excluding VAT in 2026, against EUR 80 excluding VAT in 2025¹².

The weight part comes to EUR 7,325.00 for the million jars, or about 0.73 euro cents per jar, and 82% of it is the glass, even though glass carries the lowest 2026 rate in the table at EUR 20.1 per tonne¹. The steel lid weighs 4% of the jar yet adds EUR 778.80.

The per-unit parts then apply to every UVC. At the 2026 food litter contribution of 0.0915 euro cents a unit and the brand-owner reuse contribution of 0.0140 euro cents, a million jars add EUR 915.00 and EUR 140.00, which lifts the total to EUR 8,380.00 before any bonus or malus¹. If the label paper holds more than 50% recycled fibre, the 10% cut on the paper weight part saves EUR 51.62¹. A non-soda-lime glass, or a porcelain or stainless-steel closure, would instead trigger a 100% malus on the jar¹.

Citeo runs one annual cycle: the year's placements are declared in the first two months of the following year, so 2026 packaging is declared in early 2027¹. The 2025 guide set the same January to end-February window for 2025 placements in 2026².

Every weight rate in the 2026 Citeo table is higher than in 2025. Most plastic lines rose by 30.8%, the clear PET bottle from EUR 535.2 to EUR 700.0 per tonne and the PVC line from EUR 1,605.5 to EUR 2,100.1, while rigid polystyrene rose a smaller 25.4%¹². Aluminium also rose 30.5%, paper and board 20.4%, steel 21.3% and glass 22.6%.

Citeo's 2025 activity report links the rise in contributions, from EUR 1,190 million in 2024 to EUR 1,460 million in 2025, to higher per-material rates and a rebound in consumption, and notes that consumption slowed in the second half of 2025⁴. The 2026 guide gives a tighter regulatory framework that raises the cost of EPR, and a stronger bonus-malus push toward recyclable packaging, as its reasons¹. Prior rates are converted from the 2025 guide's euro cents per kg at the same factor of 10 used for the live table.