§33 Member States’ 90 % collection target for single-use plastic beverage bottles and metal beverage cans and the contribution of regional deposit return schemes
Legal provisions: Article 50(1) states that ‘by 1 January 2029, Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure the separate collection of at least 90 % per year by weight of the following packaging formats made available on the market for the first time in that Member State in a given calendar year: (a) single-use plastic beverage bottles with a capacity of up to three litres; and (b) single-use metal beverage containers with a capacity of up to three litres’. Article 50(2) lays down that ‘in order to achieve the targets set out in paragraph 1, Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that deposit and return systems are set up for the relevant packaging formats referred to in paragraph 1 and that a deposit is charged at the point of sale’. Commission’s interpretation: The 90 % separate collection targets for single-use plastic beverage bottles and metal beverage containers in Article 50(1) applies to the Member State as a whole and is based on the quantity of such packaging formats made available on the territory of a Member State in a year. All single-use plastic beverage bottles and metal beverage containers, except those expressly exempted from this obligation by Article 50(4), are required to be part of a DRS. Member States must ensure that their whole territory is covered by the separate collection for these packaging formats, but may implement DRS schemes at a subnational level to take relevant national administrative divisions and overseas territories into account. (1) Article 2 is amended as follows: (a) paragraph 2 is replaced by the following: “2. Where this Directive conflicts with Directive 94/62/EC or 2008/98/EC, this Directive shall prevail unless provided otherwise by Regulation (EU) 2025/40 of the European Parliament and of the Council” (b) the following paragraph is added: “3. Where Article 4 of this Directive conflicts with Article 25(1) and (6) of Regulation (EU) 2025/40 as regards single-use plastic packaging listed in point (3) of Annex V to that Regulation. Article 25(1) and (6) of that Regulation shall prevail”’. ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2026/3084/oj ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)
Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-09-07