The dearest household glass fee in the euro area is 5.6 times the cheapest, and the gap is about scheme design, not glass

Nine tables, four fee bases

Each scheme publishes its glass rate in its own unit and its own format, and they do not all charge the same thing (Exhibit 2). Six publish a single household glass rate per kilogram or per tonne with no other part. Citeo and Ecovidrio add per-unit charges. Fost Plus, Ecovidrio and Citeo penalise hard-to-recycle glass, and the two Portuguese entities offer a 10% lower value for packaging that meets every criterion.

Read across the table and the comparison splits into two kinds. For the six weight-only schemes, the per-tonne figure is the whole household glass fee before VAT, and a ranking is a fair comparison. For Spain and France, the per-tonne figure is a floor. The Spanish per-container part does not depend on weight at all, and Citeo’s per-unit contributions are counted per sales unit (UVC), so the bill depends on how many bottles make up a tonne.

The Irish figure needs a word of its own. Repak’s 2026 sheet splits the recycled glass rate across the chain: EUR 1.00 per tonne for the manufacturer, EUR 1.00 for the converter, EUR 19.14 for the brand holder or importer and EUR 2.00 for the retailer, EUR 23.14 in all (Repak Fees 2026). Each business pays the share for the stage it occupies, and the chain as a whole pays EUR 23.14 per tonne. SPI uses EUR 19.14 in rankings and shows EUR 23.14 alongside.

Portugal has two numbers for a different reason. Sociedade Ponto Verde (SPV) is not the only licensed entity in the integrated urban system, SIGRE. Novo Verde, which shares the system, publishes three 2026 rate periods for glass: EUR 0.07669 per kg from 1 January and from 22 February, and EUR 0.07752 from 1 August, with a published 2026 average of EUR 0.07704 and an eco-modulated average of EUR 0.06933 (Novo Verde, update of 1 July 2026). Both entities also price a non-urban flow at a small fraction of the urban one: SPV’s non-urban glass value is EUR 0.0065 per kg, 7.5% of the urban value.

Italy’s base differs again. CONAI levies its fee at the first transfer of finished packaging inside Italy, so the glassworks or the last trader of empty bottles shows the EUR 40 per tonne on its invoice to the packer, rather than the brand declaring what it places on the shelf (CONAI EPR fee page). The Italy CONAI piece sets out how that invoice works.

Where 2027 is already published

Six of the nine schemes have published a 2027 glass value, and three of them hold it flat (Exhibit 3). The schemes that move do so sharply.

CONAI announced the Italian rise on 2 July 2026, with effect from 1 January 2027, and tied it to the economics of the glass consortium rather than to a new cost line (CONAI, 2 July 2026). Valorlux’s general assembly approved its 2027 detailed-declaration tariffs in early October 2026, and the PV01 glass line goes from EUR 0.0203 to EUR 0.0298 per kg; the simplified-declaration tariffs are still to be published (Valorlux, 13 October 2026). Ecovidrio’s 2027 values are EUR 0.03761 per kg and EUR 0.00533 per container, and the same pair is printed in Ecoembes’ Precios 2027 table (Ecovidrio; Ecoembes Precios 2027).

On the other side, ARA’s 2027 sheet, version of 28 September 2026, prints EUR 0.108 per kg for household glass in both years. Fost Plus lists EUR 0.1052 per kg for glass in both its 2026 and 2027 columns, and Verpact’s table shows EUR 0.100 for 2026 and 2027 (scheme pages, consulted 27 October 2026).

SPI has not yet confirmed 2027 glass values from Citeo’s, SPV’s or Novo Verde’s own tables. Repak has posted a 2027 regular membership rates document, but SPI has not yet confirmed its glass line.

How fast glass fees moved into 2026

The 2025 to 2026 step varied even more than the 2027 one (Exhibit 4). Each change is measured inside one scheme’s own table.

Repak’s step is the striking one. Its 2025 sheet gives EUR 7.41 per tonne for the brand holder and EUR 11.41 across the chain, and the 2026 sheet EUR 19.14 and EUR 23.14 (Repak Fees 2025 and 2026). The manufacturer, converter and retailer shares did not change, so the whole rise sits with the brand holder, and the chain total rose 102.8%. The fee sheets give no reason for the step.

Citeo’s glass line went from 1.64 to 2.01 euro cents per kg (Citeo 2025 and 2026 tariffs). Valorlux’s moved down and back up: EUR 0.0201 per kg in 2024, EUR 0.0177 in 2025 and EUR 0.0203 in 2026 (Valorlux 2026 table, which prints all three years). Verpact’s glass history shows that a flat year can follow a large step: the table prints EUR 0.056 per kg for 2021, EUR 0.048 for 2022, EUR 0.060 for 2023 and EUR 0.100 from 2024 onwards, a 66.7% rise in 2024 that has held for four years (Verpact Tarieven).

Four fee designs for glass

The fee bases in Exhibit 2 fall into four groups once two questions are asked: does the scheme charge anything per container, and does it vary the glass rate by recyclability? SPI uses these two questions as its framework because each answer points a packaging team to a different lever (Exhibit 5).

Design A, flat weight. Five schemes charge one household glass rate and nothing else. Here the only fee lever is weight: a 10% lighter bottle saves 10% of the glass fee, whatever its colour or closure. These five include the dearest (ARA) and the cheapest (Repak), so design A says nothing about level.

Design B, weight with a bonus. SPV’s 2026 bonificado value for glass is EUR 0.0781 per kg, 10% below the base, and applies only when the packaging meets every eco-modulation criterion set for the material (SPV Tabela VPV 2026). Novo Verde’s eco-modulated 2026 average is likewise 10% below its base average. The lever is evidence: a brand that cannot show the criteria are met pays the base.

Design C, a penalty line. Fost Plus does not discount glass but has a severe penalty. Code 017 covers composite packaging in which glass is the largest share of the weight, and black glass bottles coloured in the mass are listed as obstructive packaging (D014); both pay EUR 4.4190 per kg, against EUR 0.1052 for clear glass bottles, flasks and jars (Fost Plus Green Dot rates 2026). Code 001 also excludes pyrex, crystal and natural opal glass containing more than 600 ppm fluorine.

Design D, weight, units and maluses. Ecovidrio and Citeo charge both on weight and per container, and both penalise the same physical features: closures that disrupt glass furnaces and glass that is not soda-lime. Ecovidrio applies a 50% penalty on the base tariff since January 2025; Citeo applies a 100% malus on the unit’s contribution (Exhibit 11).

Why glass rates range so widely

A spread of 5.6 times on one material in one currency needs an explanation, and the scheme documents give part of it (Exhibit 6). SPI groups the drivers into collection model, remelt value, deposit boundaries and scope.

Collection model. In the two schemes whose documents describe it, glass is collected through bring banks. Fost Plus’s explainer names its extensive bottle bank network as what makes glass collection accessible, and charges the bottle banks to glass in full, together with glass quality controls and clean-site campaigns (Fost Plus, what, why and how). AGR, the Austrian glass system, says it organises household and commercial glass collection with regional waste firms and that about 250,000 tonnes of glass packaging are collected each year (AGR). Where a scheme owns or pays for a dedicated glass network, the glass rate has to carry it; where glass travels with other materials or is collected under contracts the scheme does not fully fund, the rate can be lower. SPI has not found a published cost split that would show how much of each rate is collection.

Remelt value. Collected glass is sold back to glassworks as cullet, so its market price feeds straight into the fee. AGR says new Austrian glass packaging averages about two thirds cullet, and that its system is financed both by licence fees and by sales of collected glass to the glass industry (AGR). When cullet prices fall, the fee has to cover more. That is the reason CONAI gives for its 2027 rise, in a release that cites low cullet values and shrinking demand from wine and drinks (CONAI, 2 July 2026).

Deposit boundaries. In the four countries where SPI confirmed an operating single-use deposit, the law takes glass out. Austria’s deposit covers single-use drinks containers of plastic and metal from 0.1 to 3 litres since 1 January 2025 (BMLUK FAQ). Ireland’s in-scope materials are PET bottles and aluminium or steel cans of 150 ml to 3 litres, and Repak does not charge for that material at any stage (Repak QF 509). Portugal’s deposit, operating since 10 April 2026, covers plastic, ferrous metal and aluminium and marks glass as not covered (APA SDR FAQ v2.6). In the Netherlands, the statutory deposit covers plastic bottles and cans, and glass beer bottles carry a deposit with no legal obligation behind it (Verpact Statiegeld tarieven).

Scope. Some of the gap is definitional. Repak’s EUR 19.14 is one stage of four. SPV’s urban figure applies only to urban-type waste, and the non-urban flow is priced at EUR 0.0065 per kg. ARA prints its glass rate as a household code, and its 2027 sheet carries no commercial glass row at all. A like-for-like comparison would need each scheme’s total glass cost and tonnage, which none of the nine publishes in its tariff.

The worked example: one 100-tonne bottle portfolio

SPI priced one portfolio through all nine tables: 100 tonnes of single-use soda-lime glass bottles, 500,000 bottles of 200 g each, sold to households, each bottle a single sales unit (Exhibit 7). The portfolio is an SPI assumption for comparison, not a market average. Closures, labels and cases are left out so the glass line can be read alone; readers can add their own mix in the SPI EPR & Plastic Tax Calculator.

The arithmetic is short for the weight-only schemes: 100,000 kg times the per-kg rate, or 100 tonnes times the per-tonne rate. ARA: 100,000 x EUR 0.108 = EUR 10,800. Fost Plus: 100,000 x EUR 0.1052 = EUR 10,520. Verpact: 100,000 x EUR 0.100 = EUR 10,000. SPV: 100,000 x EUR 0.0868 = EUR 8,680. CONAI: 100 x EUR 40 = EUR 4,000. Valorlux: 100,000 x EUR 0.0203 = EUR 2,030. Repak: 100 x EUR 19.14 = EUR 1,914.

Spain (Ecovidrio). 100,000 kg x EUR 0.03515 = EUR 3,515, plus 500,000 containers x EUR 0.00498 = EUR 2,490, a total of EUR 6,005. The per-container part is 41.5% of the bill, and it is what lifts Spain above Italy.

France (Citeo). 100,000 kg x 2.01 euro cents = EUR 2,010. The per-unit contributions add 500,000 x 0.1433 euro cents = EUR 716.50 for litter and 500,000 x 0.0140 euro cents = EUR 70.00 for reuse financing, EUR 786.50 in all and EUR 2,796.50 with the weight part (Citeo guide 2026). SPI applies the beverage litter rate because the portfolio is drinks bottles; a food jar would use 0.0915 euro cents.

Translated to a single bottle, the 2026 fee runs from 0.38 euro cents in Ireland to 2.16 euro cents in Austria (Exhibit 8). For most drinks the glass fee is a small part of unit cost, but for a brand selling tens of millions of bottles across these markets the differences add up.

Bottle weight changes the ranking in two markets

In seven schemes the fee per tonne is the same whatever the bottle weighs. In Spain and France it is not, because part of the charge is per container (Exhibit 9). SPI held the portfolio at 100 tonnes and changed the bottle weight.

Scenarios: bonus, base, 2027 and penalty

SPI ran the same portfolio through four cases in each scheme, in euros (Exhibit 10). The low case applies the lowest published 2026 glass value the portfolio could earn, the base case is Exhibit 7, the 2027 case uses each scheme’s published 2027 values and the penalty case applies the scheme’s published glass malus or penalty line to the whole portfolio.

SPI calculation: the 2027 Spanish bill is 100,000 x EUR 0.03761 + 500,000 x EUR 0.00533 = EUR 3,761 + EUR 2,665 = EUR 6,426, up EUR 421 or 7.0%. Valorlux: 100,000 x EUR 0.0298 = EUR 2,980, up EUR 950. CONAI: 100 x EUR 48 = EUR 4,800, up EUR 800.

The penalty column is about a small number of packs, not a whole portfolio, and SPI shows it on 100 tonnes only to compare scales. A Belgian composite glass pack pays 42 times a clear glass bottle. In Spain the 50% penalty adds EUR 3,002.50 to the portfolio, and in France the 100% malus doubles the unit’s contribution. In the five design A schemes there is no glass penalty to apply.

What each scheme penalises in glass

Exhibit 11 brings together the published glass-specific modulation rules. They target the same few features: glass that is not soda-lime, infusible elements such as porcelain, and closures that cannot be pulled out by magnets.

Ecovidrio says the money raised from its penalties goes to studies on improving the recyclability of the packaging concerned (Ecovidrio, Envases y Tarifas). Its October 2023 presentation set out that the eco-modulation should balance economically over 2024 to 2027 and that bonuses for higher recycled content were to be studied (Ecovidrio, October 2023). SPI has not yet confirmed whether any glass bonus applies in 2026.

Timeline