Netherlands packaging EPR fees 2026

The Dutch scheme is built on the Besluit beheer verpakkingen 2014, an order in council of 27 October 2014 whose current text has applied since 1 January 2024⁷. Article 5a sets reuse and recycling percentages by calendar year, Article 6 sets material targets, Articles 8 and 8a require an annual report before 1 August, and Article 9 obliges producers placing more than 50,000 kg of packaging a year to notify and to meet the duties jointly⁷. The joint route is the Afvalbeheerbijdrageovereenkomst Verpakkingen 2023 to 2027, an agreement declared generally binding by the state, which is why every obliged firm pays whether or not it signed it⁶.

Verpact, formerly the Afvalfonds Verpakkingen, collects the Afvalbeheerbijdrage Verpakkingen and runs the collective waste structure described in Article 2 of that agreement¹. It also governs the deposit on plastic bottles and metal drinks containers, which Statiegeld Nederland operates under a separate policy¹. The government business portal names three instruments behind the fee: the 2014 decree, the 2023 to 2027 agreement and the regulation on the request to declare it generally binding⁶.

Until 12 August 2026 the payer was the Dutch-established party that placed packaged products on the market, imported them or had its name or brand applied; from that date the definition of producer follows the PPWR, PR-EU-001¹. Foreign companies selling online directly to Dutch consumers are covered⁶. Single-use plastic packaging must be registered and declared even below the 50,000 kg threshold¹⁶.

Verpact fixes a single annual EUR/kg tariff for each material, net of VAT, and publishes the next year's table in September: the 2026 rates were announced on 22 September 2025³. Its 2026 policy (version 3.3, effective 1 January 2026) lists plastic in two lines, rigid (vormvast) at EUR 1.22/kg and flexible or unspecified at EUR 1.32/kg, alongside a reuse tariff of EUR 0.015/kg and a single-use plastic component of EUR 2.10 per 1,000 items¹. Verpact explained the 2026 increases for aluminium and drinks cartons by rising targets, fewer cans in the aluminium stream and a fragile chain, and said the SUP component fell because cost composition was better understood³.

Modulation is a discount on the plastic tariff, not a set of bands. Under the 2026 Tariefdifferentiatie Plastic scheme, adopted under Article 1.3 of Annex 1 to the agreement, a unit can earn a recycled-content step of EUR 0.20/kg and four design steps of EUR 0.10/kg each, capped at EUR 0.60/kg². From 1 January 2027 the scheme splits in two, with the Design for Recycling part limited to four EUR 0.10/kg steps and a maximum of EUR 0.40/kg⁵.

SPI calculation: the gross contribution is EUR 11,580.00 excluding VAT, before any threshold offset under section 3.2.5 of Verpact's policy, which SPI has not modelled¹. The mailers are 11.8% of the weight but 91.2% of the bill, because paper and board pays EUR 0.017/kg against EUR 1.32/kg for flexible plastic.

If the mailers contained at least 20% post-consumer recyclate and were at least 90% PE, two discount steps would cut EUR 0.30/kg, saving EUR 2,400.00 on the plastic line². The shop would claim the discount in its annual declaration and keep the evidence for at least seven years². Swapping the mailers for 8,000 kg of extra board would cost EUR 136.00 at the paper rate, so in the Netherlands material choice moves the fee far more than weight does.

Verpact works on an estimate for the current year and a final declaration for the previous one¹. Payment terms are in Article 4 and Annex 2 of the agreement, and Verpact can check a declaration for up to five years after filing¹.

Verpact held glass, plastic, paper and board, other metals and wood at their 2025 rates for 2026³. Aluminium rose 13.3%, from EUR 0.30/kg to EUR 0.34/kg, because fewer cans in the aluminium stream leave a smaller and lower-quality flow that costs more to handle; drinks cartons rose 4.5%, from EUR 0.88/kg to EUR 0.92/kg, on a rising target and a fragile chain³⁴. The SUP component fell from EUR 2.30 to EUR 2.10 per 1,000 items⁴¹.

The deposit fees set by Statiegeld Nederland moved separately: bottles were stable, but the contribution for cans rose from 0.2 euro cent in 2025 to 1.0 cent in 2026 after can returns grew 83% in eighteen months³. Verpact's tariff table already lists 2027 values for aluminium (EUR 0.38/kg, up 11.8%) and drinks cartons (EUR 1.11/kg, up 20.7%)⁸.