Aluminium pays EUR 5 to EUR 480 a tonne across nine euro EPR tables, and thin foil, laminates and deposit cans cost several times more

Nine tables, one metal

Every scheme here prices aluminium as its own line, but the line does not mean the same thing in each table. Exhibit 2 sets out every aluminium line SPI read, with its unit as published, its year and any 2027 value.

Read down the 2026 column and the range is EUR 4 to EUR 4,419 per tonne inside one currency. The low end is not one scheme: Portugal’s non-urban flow (EUR 4.00), Ireland’s brand holder share (EUR 5.14) and Italy’s base (EUR 12) are all below EUR 15. The high end is Belgium alone, because Fost Plus is the only one of the nine with separate household lines for thin aluminium and aluminium laminates, as well as for aluminium capsules.

The fee bases differ in ways that matter more for aluminium than for most materials. Repak’s EUR 5.14 is the brand holder or importer share; the sheet adds EUR 1.00 each for manufacturers and converters and EUR 2.00 for retailers, so the full chain pays EUR 9.14 per tonne (Repak 2026 fees sheet). CONAI’s fee is charged per tonne at the first transfer of the packaging, so it arrives on a converter’s invoice. ARA’s household line is 5.3 times its commercial line (EUR 480 against EUR 90). SPV’s urban base is ten times its non-urban base, and its bonificado value of EUR 35.90 applies when a pack meets every 2026 eco-modulation criterion for the material (SPV Tabela VPV 2026).

How the year moved

From 2025 to 2026 the aluminium line moved more than any other metal line in several schemes. Citeo raised aluminium 30.5%, from 18.65 to 24.34 euro cent per kg, while its steel line rose from 5.35 to 6.49 cent (Citeo tariffs 2025 and 2026). Repak raised recycled aluminium 39.7%, from EUR 3.68 to EUR 5.14 per tonne for the brand holder, and Verpact 13.3%, from EUR 0.30 to EUR 0.34 per kg. Valorlux moved 4.1%, to EUR 0.0151.

Two schemes cut or held. Ecoembes cut its aluminium drinks can line from EUR 0.060 to EUR 0.040 per kg, 33.3%, as part of a wider 2026 reduction for drinks packaging (Ecoembes Precios 2025 and 2026, as matched in SPI’s fee data). ARA held EUR 0.480 for 2025, 2026 and 2027, and CONAI has kept aluminium at EUR 12 per tonne since 1 April 2024 (CIAL Piano Specifico 2026).

The 2027 tables published so far split. Verpact raises aluminium 11.8% to EUR 0.380 per kg and its page links the rise partly to growth in aluminium packaging such as coffee capsules that must be sorted and processed (Verpact Tarieven). Fost Plus cuts thick aluminium 18.7% to EUR 0.0399 but raises thin aluminium 7.7% to EUR 0.4862 and cuts aluminium capsules 13.0% to EUR 3.0910. Citeo, CONAI, SPV and Repak 2027 aluminium values are not confirmed by SPI.

Why aluminium is usually cheap, and when it is not

Producer responsibility fees mostly fund the gap between what it costs to collect and sort a material and what the sorted material sells for. Fost Plus says it calculates rates on the real cost deficit for each recycled material, comparing actual costs and revenue with the volumes placed on the market, and it names aluminium, with clear PET bottles, as a material with a fully developed recycling and sales market (Fost Plus, Packaging EPR rates, what, why and how).

Italy shows the arithmetic in public. CIAL’s plan for 2026 forecasts EUR 19.92 million of revenue, of which EUR 10.69 million comes from selling recovered aluminium and EUR 6.26 million from the CONAI environmental contribution (Exhibit 3). Sales are 1.7 times the fee, and the plan says the fee covers about half of the costs it is meant to fund in 2026, against 45% in 2025.

The same plan ties the value of sorted aluminium packaging to scrap prices on the London Metal Exchange in US dollars per tonne and to the euro and dollar exchange rate (CIAL Piano Specifico 2026). So an aluminium fee that looks low reflects a commodity price that can fall. CIAL’s forecast sales for 2026 are almost flat, at EUR 10.69 million against EUR 10.64 million in its 2025 pre-closing figures.

There are four cases where aluminium stops being cheap, and each one shows up in a tariff.

When the aluminium is thin or mixed. Foil, lids and laminates are hard to recover. CIAL notes that aluminium packaging runs from the walls of aerosols, cans and trays down to foil of a few micron, and it promotes recovery of the small-size fraction at treatment plants. Fost Plus charges 9.2 times more below 50 micron, and when plastic weighs more than the aluminium, the pack leaves the aluminium table for code 014-03 at EUR 4,419 per tonne.

When the item is a known problem. Belgium and Italy now price aluminium beverage capsules as a separate item: EUR 3.5525 per kg at Fost Plus from 12 August 2026 and EUR 120 per tonne at CONAI from 1 October 2026, made up of the EUR 12 base and a EUR 108 extra fee (CONAI EPR fee table). CIAL’s plan adds that coffee capsules sent for recycling do not count towards Italy’s aluminium recycling figure.

When the stream shrinks. Verpact explained its 2026 rise by the fall in cans in its aluminium stream once they moved into the Dutch deposit, which leaves a smaller, lower-quality and more expensive flow (Verpact, 22 September 2025). Austria’s EUR 480 household line, above its EUR 450 ferrous metal line, applies to a stream from which deposit cans have also left, since Recycling Pfand Österreich now charges them per can, at a 2026 rate unchanged from 2025 (ARA 2026; Recycling Pfand Österreich Infoblatt 2026).

When aluminium sits on another material. Citeo’s 2026 guide puts a 100% malus on rigid PET packaging associated with aluminium, PVC or silicone denser than 1, and includes aluminium caps, lids, labels and sleeves; Ecoembes adds a 10% penalty to several plastic fractions with metal accessories unless they are removed. A foil lid on a PET tray can therefore cost far more in the tray’s fee than in its own.

Exhibit 4 shows how each scheme sets aluminium against steel, the other metal every table prices.

Where cans leave the fee base

The largest single difference between the nine schemes is not a rate. It is whether a drinks can is in the EPR table at all. Exhibit 5 sets out where cans sit in October 2026.

The Dutch rule is in Verpact’s own table: the aluminium and other metals tariffs no longer apply to deposit cans from 1 April, before which cans were reported as ordinary packaging, and the ILT confirms that cans have carried a deposit since 1 April 2023 (Verpact Tarieven; ILT). In Ireland, PET bottles and aluminium or steel cans between 150 ml and 3 litres are in the scheme, with deposits of EUR 0.15 up to 500 ml and EUR 0.25 above (Re-turn producer page). In Portugal, Volta covers plastic and metal drinks containers up to three litres with a 10 cent deposit, launched on 10 April 2026 (Government of Portugal, 13 April 2026), and the SDR fee is set by list, green, yellow or red, according to recyclability criteria approved by APA and DGE (SDR Portugal VPF SDR 2026).

Belgium is the open case. The Brussels Times reported on 24 August 2026 that Belgium had taken no decision on a deposit, that Fost Plus estimates only 65% of metal drink containers are correctly sorted, and that the PPWR’s 90% collection test for single-use plastic bottles and metal cans applies by 1 January 2029, with a possible waiver for a country at 80% in 2026 with a credible plan. SPI has not yet confirmed any Belgian government decision.

Exhibit 6 converts the per-can fees to a per-tonne figure, so they can be set against the same country’s EPR line.

The modulation levers, scheme by scheme

Eco-modulation for aluminium is thin. None of the nine tables SPI read publishes a percentage bonus or malus aimed at an aluminium pack itself, and Ecoembes states that its first model could not be applied to metals. What exists is built into lines, thresholds and the rules for other materials (Exhibit 7).

Fost Plus’s definitions are the most precise. Line 004 covers packaging elements of at least 50% aluminium with a thickness of 50 micron or more, line 013 covers aluminium thinner than 50 micron, and both exclude beverage capsules disposed of with the product. Weight percentages exclude inks, adhesives and glues (Fost Plus Green Dot rates 2026). The same document defines aluminium laminates as a layer of aluminium between two layers of plastic, and metallised films as plastic with a thin vapour-deposited aluminium layer, both of which fall into plastic categories.

Citeo’s aerosol example is a weight-reduction bonus, not an aerosol tariff: the guide shows a metal aerosol cut from 36 g to 27 g earning a 25% bonus (Citeo guide 2026). In practice aerosols are priced on the aluminium or steel line in every scheme SPI read, and SPI has not confirmed a separate household aerosol line in any of them. Fost Plus’s pharmaceutical per-unit table does carry an aluminium spray row at EUR 0.0256 per consumer unit.

One market in depth: Belgium

Belgium is the market where the shape of an aluminium pack matters most, so Exhibit 8 sets out every Fost Plus line an aluminium pack can fall into.

The 2027 table widens the gauge gap. Thick aluminium falls to EUR 39.90 per tonne while thin aluminium rises to EUR 486.20, so the ratio goes from 9.2 to 12.2 times. Steel moves the other way from aluminium, up 77.6%, so a Belgian food brand choosing between a steel and an aluminium can sees the gap between them grow from 3.8 to 8.3 times in a single year.

The litter levy changes the can sum. The three regions introduced it in 2026 on litter-prone single-use packaging placed on the market that year, and Fost Plus collects it, with a first advance invoice in October 2026 for half the estimated 2026 contribution and a second at the start of 2027 (Fost Plus EPR Litter). A tonne of beverage cans pays EUR 49.10 to Fost Plus and EUR 1,259.40 in levy, so the levy is 96% of the can’s Belgian producer cost.

Three kinds of aluminium market

Two questions sort the nine markets: are drinks cans inside the EPR table, and does the table price aluminium by format or as one line? Exhibit 9 shows the result. The fourth box, format pricing with cans in a deposit, is empty among these nine.

Archetype A, format markets. Belgium and Luxembourg share the 50% and 50 micron rule, and Italy prices capsules apart. The cheap line is available only to packs that meet the threshold, so thin foil and laminates are where the money is. In Luxembourg the PV05 line covers aluminium of at least 50% and 50 micron, and SPI has not yet confirmed whether thinner aluminium falls to PV14, other recoverable, at EUR 1.3973 per kg, or PV15, other non-recoverable, at EUR 1.4830 (Valorlux 2026).

Archetype B, flat markets. Citeo and Ecoembes each charge one rate for cans, trays and foil. In France that rate is high, so weight reduction pays directly; in Spain it is low and not eco-modulated, so aluminium’s fee matters mainly when it sits on a plastic pack and triggers a penalty there.

Archetype C, deposit markets. Once cans leave, the EPR line covers trays, foil, aerosols, food cans and closures. The can’s cost becomes a count of units at a published per-can fee, with Portugal’s lists adding a recyclability step of up to 30.2% from green to red for aluminium.

Worked example: 20 tonnes of aluminium in nine schemes

To show what the rules do to one portfolio, SPI priced a fixed mix of household aluminium packaging in each scheme (Exhibit 10). The mix is an SPI assumption for comparison, not a market average.

Belgium (Fost Plus). 12 x 49.1 + 5 x 49.1 + 3 x 451.3 = EUR 2,188.60. The foil lids are 15% of the tonnage and 61.9% of the bill. The litter levy on the cans, 12,000 kg x EUR 1.2594 = EUR 15,112.80, is 6.9 times the whole Green Dot bill. On the 2027 table the Green Dot part is EUR 2,136.90, 2.4% lower, because thick aluminium falls more than thin aluminium rises.

Luxembourg (Valorlux). 17 x 15.1 = EUR 256.70 for the cans and trays. The lids depend on a line SPI has not yet confirmed: EUR 4,191.90 at PV14 or EUR 4,449 at PV15, so the total is EUR 4,448.60 to EUR 4,705.70. If Valorlux places thin aluminium in either line, the lids are 94% or more of a Luxembourg bill, which would make a Luxembourg foil lid dearer than a Belgian one.

Netherlands (Verpact). 8 x 340 = EUR 2,720 on trays and lids. The cans pay 923,077 x EUR 0.010 = EUR 9,230.77 in 2026 and EUR 17,538.46 at the 2027 contribution of EUR 0.019, while the EPR part rises to EUR 3,040 on the 2027 aluminium rate.

France (Citeo). 20 x 243.4 = EUR 4,868, the highest EPR total of the nine, because every can, tray and lid pays the same EUR 243.40. Citeo’s per-unit and malus elements sit outside this figure; a lid that seals a rigid PET pack would add its malus to the PET pack’s fee, not this one.

Italy (CONAI). 20 x 12 = EUR 240, charged by the converter at the first transfer. Only capsules, pods and sachets for drinks pay the EUR 120 modulated fee, so none of this mix does.

Spain (Ecoembes). 20 x 40 = EUR 800, and the same on the 2027 page. SPI has not yet confirmed a start date for a Spanish deposit in any official act, so the cans stay in the table.

Portugal (SPV). 8 x 39.9 = EUR 319.20, or EUR 287.20 at the bonificado value. The cans pay SDR Portugal 923,077 x EUR 0.00567 = EUR 5,233.85 on the green list, or EUR 6,812.31 on the red list.

Austria (ARA). 8 x 480 = EUR 3,840 as household packaging, against EUR 720 if the trays and lids were commercial at EUR 90. The cans pay Recycling Pfand Österreich 923,077 x EUR 0.0107 = EUR 9,876.92, plus surcharges for poor recyclability where they apply.

Ireland (Repak). 8 x 5.14 = EUR 41.12 for the brand holder, or EUR 73.12 across the whole chain at EUR 9.14. SPI has assumed the trays and lids qualify as recycled aluminium; Repak’s sheet does not define the term. The cans pay Re-turn 923,077 x EUR 0.0125 = EUR 11,538.46 at its 2025 fee.

Scenarios: gauge, can weight and 2027

Two assumptions in the mix carry most of the uncertainty: how thick the trays and lids are, and how much each can weighs. Exhibit 12 moves each one, in euro, inside each scheme.

SPI calculation: in Belgium the high case is 834.70 for cans and trays plus 3 x 4,419 = EUR 13,257 for laminated lids, 6.4 times the base. Moving lids up to 50 micron saves EUR 1,206.60, 55.1% of the base bill, before any change in the material weight needed. For deposit fees, moving from a 13 g to an 11 g can adds 18.2% to every bill, because 167,832 more cans make up the same 12 tonnes.

The 2027 step is uneven across markets. Of the nine, five have published 2027 aluminium values: Verpact up 11.8%, Valorlux up 7.3%, Fost Plus thick down 18.7% and thin up 7.7%, and Ecoembes and ARA flat. The Dutch can contribution rises 90% to EUR 0.019, so on this mix the Dutch total goes from EUR 11,950.77 in 2026 to EUR 20,578.46 in 2027, up 72.2%, almost all of it from the cans.

The gaps in this view

Luxembourg’s thin aluminium. Valorlux’s PV05 needs 50% aluminium and 50 micron. SPI has not yet confirmed the line for thinner or composite aluminium, so the worked example shows a range.

France, Italy, Portugal and Ireland in 2027. Citeo’s 2027 tariff is not yet published, CONAI’s page carries no 2027 aluminium value, and SPI has not yet confirmed SPV’s or Repak’s 2027 aluminium rates. Repak publishes a 2027 Regular Membership Rates sheet (QF 628) whose rates SPI has not yet read.

Charges outside the table. Citeo’s per-unit and malus elements, the Belgian litter levy beyond cans, small-producer flat fees and minimums, and deposit handling and registration fees are not priced here. The Spanish deposit has no confirmed start date in an official act. Plastic taxes do not apply to aluminium, but they do apply to the plastic part of an aluminium laminate where a country taxes it; the flexible packaging piece covers laminates.