In Spain the plastic tax is close to half the bill on plastic packaging, and the deposit system has no confirmed start

Three charges, three collectors

Spain’s packaging costs come from three legal sources that do not share a collector, a base or a calendar. Treating them as one “packaging compliance” line hides which lever moves which euro.

The EPR fee. Real Decreto 1055/2022 of 27 December 2022 was published in the BOE on 28 December 2022 and entered into force the next day (BOE-A-2022-22690; PR-ES-002). It defines the producer of the product as the packer, or the business that imports or buys packaged goods in another Member State to sell them in Spain, and it splits packaging into household, commercial and industrial categories (articles 2.t, 2.m, 2.h and 2.n, as read in SPI’s fee-market notes of 14 October 2026). Producers register in the packaging section of the Registro de Productores de Producto and meet their duties through an individual or collective SCRAP. Commercial and industrial packaging has needed SCRAP membership since 31 December 2024 under the third transitional provision (MITECO register page, consulted 14 October 2026).

The schemes are concentrated in household packaging and spread out in industrial packaging. MITECO’s market share resolution for 2025, signed on 15 July 2026, lists 9 schemes for household single-use packaging, with Ecoembes at 55.6% and Ecovidrio at 40.4%; 17 for commercial packaging, where Ecoembes Comercial holds 77.5%; and 16 for industrial packaging, where Envalora holds 37.5%, Cartón Circular 20.5% and GENCI 17.1% (MITECO resolution, consulted 21 October 2026).

The plastic tax. The special tax on non-reusable plastic packaging is set in Chapter I of Title VII of Ley 7/2022, articles 67 to 83, and has applied since 1 January 2023 (PR-ES-001). It falls on the manufacture, import or intra-EU acquisition of non-reusable packaging that contains plastic, empty or filled, and on plastic semi-finished products and closures for such packaging. Its base is the kilograms of non-recycled plastic in the taxed product (article 77), and its rate is EUR 0.45 per kilogram (Agencia Tributaria, consulted 21 October 2026). It borrows its definition of packaging from article 2.f of the decree, so the new decree MITECO is drafting could move the tax base as well.

The deposit. Ley 7/2022 sets separate collection targets for single-use plastic bottles: 70% by weight in 2023, 77% in 2025, 85% in 2027 and 90% in 2029, as the decree’s preamble restates (BOE-A-2022-22690). Missing the 2023 or 2027 target brings in a nationwide deposit, return and refund system within two years (MITECO 2023 bottle report). The decree’s chapter on the system, articles 46 to 48, governs how it runs, and article 13.2 requires packaging in the system to carry its symbol.

A fourth charge sits above the brand. Spain pays the EU plastic own resource at EUR 0.80 per kg of non-recycled plastic packaging waste, less an annual lump sum of EUR 142 million under Decision 2020/2053, and the Commission’s COM(2025) 574 would raise the rate to EUR 1 per kg from 2028 (PR-EU-017; PR-EU-018). The state pays it, not companies, so it is outside the basket.

The worked basket

SPI built one basket to show how the charges combine (Exhibit 2). It is an SPI assumption for a mid-sized food and drinks brand, not a market average, and every rate comes from a published table in one currency, the euro.

Ecoembes publishes one price per kilogram for each material and format, with separate lines for packaging inside the Single-Use Plastics Directive scope, marked SUP (Ecoembes Precios 2026). The PDF tables carry their material headings as images, so SPI matches lines by position across the 2025, 2026 and 2027 tables, which share one layout; the constant SUP gap of EUR 0.011 per kg in 2026 and 2027 confirms the match (SPI fee-market notes, 14 October 2026). Exhibit 3 shows the rates used.

The 2026 table was a cut for drinks packaging. The SUP surcharge over the matching non-SUP line fell from EUR 0.101 per kg in 2025 to EUR 0.011 in 2026, so PET drinks bottles dropped 29.6%, from EUR 385 to EUR 271 per tonne, and aluminium cans fell from EUR 60 to EUR 40 (Ecoembes Precios 2025 and 2026). Mainstream plastic lines moved less: flexible film fell 1.9% and PET trays 1.8%.

The 2027 table, published in August 2026, reverses part of that. PET drinks bottles rise to EUR 278 per tonne, trays to EUR 682 and film to EUR 1,269, while HDPE eases to EUR 282 and the metal lines hold (Ecoembes Precios 2027, consulted 21 October 2026). Glass rises on both factors, to EUR 0.03761 per kg plus EUR 0.00533 per unit.

Where the bill comes from

Exhibit 4 prices each line. The tax applies only to the plastic lines, and only to their non-recycled kilograms.

The arithmetic is short. PET bottles: 40,000 kg x EUR 0.271 = EUR 10,840 in fees, and 30,000 kg of non-recycled plastic x EUR 0.45 = EUR 13,500 in tax. Film: 10,000 kg x EUR 1.243 = EUR 12,430, plus 10,000 kg x EUR 0.45 = EUR 4,500. Glass: 30,000 kg x EUR 0.03515 + 100,000 units x EUR 0.00498 = EUR 1,552.50. Paper and board, at a third of the weight, is 9.1% of the bill.

A useful break-even falls out of the rates. At 0% recycled content the tax on a PET bottle (EUR 450 per tonne) is 1.66 times its Ecoembes fee (EUR 271). Above 39.8% certified recycled content, the tax falls below the fee; for HDPE the crossover is 36.7%. For trays and film the fee stays above the tax even at 0% recycled content.

Four supply routes, four ways to pay

The tax is levied on whoever manufactures, imports or acquires the packaging from another EU state, not on the brand as such, and the EPR duty falls on the producer of the packaged product. SPI groups brands into four routes, each with a different filing burden (Exhibit 6).

Route A is the common one for Spanish brands. The converter pays the tax and the brand meets it in the purchase price. The Agencia Tributaria lists an obligation to pass the tax on (“repercusión”), but SPI has not yet confirmed how converters show it on invoices, so the basket assumes the full tax reaches the brand. Manufacturers file one form 592 per establishment unless authorised to centralise, and excess deductions can be offset over the next 4 years or refunded in the last period of the calendar year (Agencia Tributaria, Liquidación y pago).

Route B is lighter on paperwork and heavier on precision. Customs settles the tax on the import declaration, and the tax forms part of the VAT base on import (Agencia Tributaria import guide, consulted 14 October 2026). The 5 kg monthly exemption covers imports only up to that level; above it, every kilogram is taxed, including the initial 5 kg.

Route C turns a brand into a taxpayer. Intra-EU acquisitions are exempt where non-recycled plastic does not exceed 5 kg in a month, and also where the goods are sent out of Spain or destroyed before the filing deadline for the period (Agencia Tributaria, Supuestos de exención). Above that, the acquirer registers, keeps the stock ledger set by Orden HFP/1314/2022 and files.

Route D has grown since 12 August 2026. MITECO says operators outside Spain that make packaged products available directly to end users in Spain must appoint an authorised representative, citing PPWR article 44.2, and the representative registers and reports under article 17.2 of the decree (MITECO register page). MITECO published an interpretative note on the PPWR producer definition for registration on 13 August 2026.

Exemptions cut across routes. Packaging for medicines, medical devices, special medical foods, hospital infant formula and hazardous healthcare waste is exempt, as are silage bale rolls, subject to the buyer’s prior declaration of use (Agencia Tributaria). Misuse of a declared exemption is a serious tax infraction fined at 150% of the unpaid tax, with a EUR 1,000 minimum.

The decree's other duties: reuse, labelling and reporting

Fees and tax are the priced part of the stack. Real Decreto 1055/2022 also imposes duties that cost staff time, shelf space or redesign, and most remain in force alongside the PPWR (Exhibit 7).

Reporting. The register accepts 2026 data from 2 January to 31 March 2027, with a simplified form for producers under 15 tonnes, and MITECO treats a missed deadline as an administrative infraction under article 108 of Ley 7/2022 (MITECO register page). Category and SCRAP changes go through an ordinary window from 1 October to 31 December each year, so the 2026 window is open now. A SCRAP adhesion certificate must reach the register within one month of contracting (SPI fee-market notes).

Labelling. Article 13.2 says household packaging must show the fraction or container it goes in, and packaging in a deposit system must show that system’s symbol. Article 13.3 bans marking packaging “respetuoso con el medio ambiente” or with any equivalent wording that could encourage littering, and article 13.6 lets packaging state its recycled-content percentage (BOE-A-2022-22690). MITECO’s note says the PPWR’s labelling provisions apply in 2027, 2028 or 2029 under its article 12, which leaves the decree’s marking rules in place until then (MITECO note, 19 May 2026).

A recycled-content percentage printed on a pack and a recycled-content certificate for the tax are different things. The tax needs a certificate from an accredited entity for the plastic actually supplied; an on-pack percentage is a consumer statement under article 13.6. SPI makes no testing claim about either and sees them as separate evidence files.

Reuse. Article 9 requires food shops of 300 m2 to under 1,000 m2 to offer at least 4 reusable beverage references, 5 in shops up to 2,500 m2 and 7 above that, since 1 January 2025; from 1 January 2027 shops under 300 m2 need 1 to 3 (PR-ES-002). Article 8 sets reuse shares by channel, and SPI’s rule note records 20% and 30% targets for commercial and industrial packaging, which run alongside PPWR reuse obligations from 2030 (PR-EU-006).

The decree also faces replacement. MITECO held a prior public consultation on a new packaging decree from 5 May to 5 June 2025 and, in its note of 19 May 2026, says it is drafting one. Because the tax takes its packaging definition from article 2.f of the decree, a change of definition in the new text would move the tax base too.

Recycled content pays twice, but not equally

Ecoembes modulates its base price per packaging element. The guide applies from January 2024 and is calibrated on final annual declaration data for year n-2, and the money raised from penalised tonnes caps the bonuses paid in the same fraction (Ecoembes Guía de ecomodulación 2026). Exhibit 8 sets out the criteria.

The malus triggers are opacity or colour (carbon black for HDPE), multi-material construction including EVOH of 5% or more, labels covering two-thirds or more of the body unless designed for separation, and PVC, rubber, silicone or metal accessories (Ecoembes guide). On the basket, a 10% malus on the trays would add EUR 988.50.

Now set those bonuses against the tax (Exhibit 9). Each 10 points of certified recycled content cuts the tax by EUR 45 per tonne of plastic, on every format.

SPI calculation: moving the basket’s 40 tonnes of PET bottles from 25% to 50% certified recycled content cuts the tax by EUR 4,500.00 (10,000 kg x EUR 0.45) and earns at most EUR 93.22 in Ecoembes bonus if the bottles are also clear, a ratio of about 48 to 1. On trays the balance is closer: a mono-material tray at 30% recycled PET saves EUR 2,025.00 in tax and EUR 652.41 in bonus.

The basket also shows a threshold trap. At exactly 25% recycled PET the bottles earn no Ecoembes recycled-content bonus, because the criterion is above 25%. The tax has no threshold, so it treats 25% and 26% almost the same.

Scenarios for 2027

SPI ran the basket through five cases that use only published rates, the published modulation and the tax rate, all in EUR (Exhibit 10).

Three results stand out. Ecoembes’ 2027 rates add only 2.3% to the fee and 1.4% to the whole bill. Losing certificates on one line, the PET bottles, adds more than the whole 2027 fee change: EUR 4,500.00 against EUR 1,083.80. And the spread between low and high, EUR 15,048.03, is 19.8% of the base bill, driven mostly by the tax.

SPI calculation: in the high case the tax is EUR 33,750.00, 40.9% of the bill, and the 10% tray malus at 2027 rates is EUR 1,023.00. In the low case the tax falls to EUR 21,600.00 and the bonuses are worth EUR 791.23 in all.

The deposit return system: what is confirmed

The deposit is the least settled layer. SPI’s own news log lists 22 November 2026 as the Spanish deposit start, and Spanish press reports use the same date. SPI checked it against official sources (Exhibit 11).

MITECO’s report is dated November 2024 with no day on its cover, and SPI has not yet confirmed the final 2023 collection rate in its text; press reports citing the ministry put it at 41.3%. A two-year count from that report points to November 2026, which is where the press date comes from. SPI has not yet confirmed 22 November 2026, or any other start date, against a BOE act or a MITECO resolution.

Readiness looks further off. Xataka reported on 24 April 2026 that Ecoembes, AECOC, Procircular and CorePET applied in May 2025 to the Comunidad de Madrid for authorisation as SCRAP to run the system, and that the regional government cited legal uncertainty. Qué! reported on 11 October 2026 that no operator had been designated and that operators estimate a start in late 2028 or early 2029. These are press reports, and SPI treats them as such.

The EU rule adds a second route to the same end. PPWR article 50 makes deposit systems compulsory for covered drinks containers from 2029, unless a Member State collects 80% of them for 2026 and notifies an exemption plan by 1 January 2028 (Commission Notice C/2026/3084; PR-EU-007). With a 2023 rate reported at 41.3%, SPI has not seen evidence that Spain is close to 80%.

SPI calculation: if the deposit were EUR 0.10, as press reports say the decree requires, and the basket’s PET bottles weighed 25 g each (an SPI assumption), the 40 tonnes would be 1.6 million bottles carrying EUR 160,000 of deposits. A deposit is refunded to the consumer who returns the container, so it is cash flow, not cost. The cost would be the system’s administration fee, which no authorised operator has published.