Producer responsibility

There were constructive and positive discussions on producer responsibility when the Näringslivets Producentansvar met with EU Commissioner Jessika Roswall this week.

Bengt Lagerman is the Chair of the Board at Näringslivets Producentansvar (NPA) and has a long background in the packaging and recycling industry.

Despite stricter requirements for collection and recycling, Sweden appears set to miss the EU’s packaging recycling targets for 2030. Plastic packaging, in particular, is falling far short of the 55 per cent recycling goal. This is revealed in a new report in which Näringslivets Producentansvar (NPA) analyses what is needed to reach the targets.

The cost per collected kilo and the volume of collected packaging vary significantly between municipalities, writes Henrik Nilsson from Näringslivets Producentansvar in a response in Dagens Samhälle.

This summer, the government decided on changes to the waste legislation, several of which concern packaging. Some changes will come into effect on October 1, 2025.

Recent legislative changes have significantly increased the costs associated with packaging collection, particularly for packaging from households. In accordance with producer responsibility, companies that sell packaged goods must pay for this collection.

As we approach the closure of the first half of 2025, the producer responsibility organisation Näringslivets Producentansvar (NPA) concludes that the invoiced packaging fees have exceeded the actual costs of collection and recycling. We are therefore refunding the surplus to our customers – in line with our non-for-profit business model.

When Conny Udd and Jan Ridfeldt, CEOs of Tekniska Verken and Umeå Energi, argue that producers should replace sorted packaging waste, they miss a crucial principle: residual waste is a municipal responsibility. This is written by Henrik Nilsson, head of business development and community relations at Näringslivets Producentansvar, Henrik Oxfall, responsible for plastic issues at IKEM, and Mattias Philipsson, CEO of Svensk Plaståtervinning, in a reply in Aktuell Hållbarhet.

As the largest producer responsibility organization, NPA has a responsibility to provide so-called collection points throughout Sweden. Here, companies can drop off packaging waste generated in their operations free of charge. The collection points are financed through the packaging fees for non-private use paid by producers.

According to the ordinance on littering fees, producers of single-use plastic products are required to pay a littering fee. The purpose is to finance the municipalities' costs of cleaning up single-use plastic products that have been thrown away in nature and in public places. The producers covered are required to report certain packaging in quantities. The report can be made through NPA's customer portal and must be sent in by March 24th.

To make it easier for you as a customer to navigate our reporting instructions and criteria for differentiated fees, we have collected all information regarding reporting of all types of materials for Private use and Other than private use in one and the same document.

The PPWR has now been approved by both the EU Parliament and the Council of Ministers and will soon come into effect. The regulation's provisions will generally start to apply 18 months after it enters into force, although not all requirements will take effect simultaneously. Below, we’ve listed a few things that are good for you to know.