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Denmark Might Tax Packaging by Green Impacts

In what it claims to be a world first, the Danish environmental protection agency has proposed setting taxes on packaging materials based on their environmental impacts. Read More

(Updated on July 24, 2024)

In what it claims to be a world first, the Danish environmental protection agency has proposed setting taxes on packaging materials based on their environmental impacts.

Based on a new life-cycle assessment, the agency said on Tuesday that relatively low taxes should apply to paper, cardboard and glass, and much higher ones to aluminium, expanded polystyrene and PVC.

The move comes in anticipation of an expected government proposal to revise Denmark’s current packaging tax system. This is likely to happen before the end of the year, with the EPA’s proposal in review until September 12.

Introduced in January 1999, the current system is weight-based. Tax rates per kilogram vary among materials, but in such a way that the rate for all materials averages about 3 cents per liter of goods delivered.

Packaging used in 17 product groups is covered, ranging from wine to vinegar, edible oils, lubricants, pesticides, paints, milk, margarine, dog and cat foods and food sauces.

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RELATED LINKS:

Extended Product Responsibility

Extended Product Responsibility: A New Principle for Product-Oriented Pollution Prevention

Database on Environmentally-Related Taxes

Redefining Progress

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