§24 National exemptions from the re-use targets

Legal provisions: Article 29(14) establishes cumulative conditions under which Member States may exempt economic operators on their territories from the re-use targets for a period of 5 years. These are: ‘(a) the exempting Member State reaches 5 percentage points above the targets for recycling of packaging waste per material to be achieved by 2025 and is expected to reach 5 percentage points above the 2030 target according to the report published by the Commission 3 years before that date; (b) the exempting Member State is on track to achieve the relevant waste prevention targets set out in Article 43 and can demonstrate to have reduced the packaging waste generated per capita by at least 3 % by 2028 compared to the packaging waste generated per capita in 2018; and (c) the economic operators have adopted a corporate waste prevention and recycling plan that contributes to achieving the waste prevention and recycling objectives set out in Articles 43 and 52, respectively. That period of 5 years may be renewed by the Member State provided that all the conditions are fulfilled.’ The recycling targets to be reached by Member States are laid down in Article 52. The targets are set for the following packaging materials: paper and cardboard, plastic, glass, wood, metal, and aluminium. Commission’s interpretation: a) The possibility for a Member State to exceed all material specific recycling targets The use of the plural (‘targets’) should be understood against the background that several material specific targets exist but not all these targets must be exceeded simultaneously to comply with the conditions for the application of this exemption. For example, if the recycling target for aluminium is exceeded in a given Member State, retailers could be allowed to deduct beverages sold in aluminium cans from the products within the scope of the obligation to sell 10 % of the beverages in reusable packaging. The retailers will still have to fulfil the re-use target for beverages sold in packaging made from other materials, such as glass and plastic, but the 10 % target is proportionally reduced for the share of beverages sold in aluminium cans. b) Conditions regarding the exemption applying to composite packaging In case of composite packaging, the relevant recycling targets for the materials that are used in the packaging must be exceeded. In practice, the recycling targets for all materials representing more than 5 % of the packaging unit’s weight should be exceeded. c) Conditions related to waste prevention target The respective Member State must be on track to meet the overall waste prevention target for all packaging waste generated in the exempting Member State. There is no material-specific waste prevention target. d) Conditions for renewal of the exemption: If a Member State wants to continue using the exemption from the re-use targets after 5 years, it needs to fulfil the waste prevention targets in years 2035 and 2040. The intention of the co-legislators, when allowing the possibility to renew the exemption, was to make certain that economic operators meet the targets on re-use and that Member States continue reducing the generation of packaging waste according to the reduction targets, as laid down for the years 2035 and 2040. If new data is available and new targets apply, those should be considered at the relevant time, otherwise the objectives of PPWR, particularly the reduction of packaging waste, could be compromised.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-09-07