See which amendments enter into force on 1 May in the Packaging Act and Waste Act

In February, the Riigikogu passed the Waste Act, Packaging Act and Tobacco Act Amendment Act, which will also bring about several significant changes for companies. The changes concern, for example, restrictions on the placing on the market, labelling, reduced consumption, extended producer responsibility obligations, increased consumer awareness, product design requirements and separate collection of single-use plastic products.

The changes mainly affect packaging companies, i.e. persons who pack, import or sell packaged goods in the framework of economic or professional activities. The changes also affect producers of beverage packaging and beverages, catering establishments, certain traders and festival organisers.   

The main objective of the amendments is to transpose into Estonian law the Single Plastic Directive, which aims to prevent and reduce the impact of certain plastic products on the environment, in particular on the aquatic environment and human health, and to promote the transition to a circular economy. 

The following is an overview of the most important changes to the Packaging Act and Waste Act, which enter into force on 1 May. 

1. Measures should be taken to reduce single-use plastic food packaging and drinking cups
An amendment to the Packaging Act enters into force on 1 May, according to which the packaging undertaking must take the necessary measures to reduce the consumption of single-use plastic food packaging and drinking cups by 2026 compared to 2023 (Section 5 (5)-(7)). In order to describe the measures, the packaging undertaking must prepare an action plan, which must also be published on the company's website if the company has a website. If, according to an earlier version of the draft act, the action plan should have been completed by the date of entry into force of the Act, i.e. 1 May 2023, then on the proposal of the Chamber, the undertakings were given a longer term and the action plan must be completed not later than by 1 September 2023 (Section 39⁸).

According to the amendment to the Packaging Act, single-use plastic food packaging is not deemed to be all food packaging, but only single-use plastic food packaging which is a container with or without a lid, from which ready-to-eat food is provided on-site or for takeaway, normally consumed from the same container without additional cooking, cooking or heating (Section 3 (7) 4)). For example, food packaging includes fast food packaging, sandwich, wrap or salad boxes, or packaging containing fresh or processed food that does not require further preparation, such as fruits, vegetables or desserts. Packages of dry food or food requiring further preparation of cold-sold food shall not be deemed to be food packages. Drinking cup means a single-use plastic drink container with a cap or lid which is either intended for filling at the point of sale or which is sold separately for private use (Section 3 (7) 3)).

It does not arise from the law which measures and according to which timetable the packaging undertaking must take. Thus, each company can choose how to meet the 2026 target of reducing the consumption of single-use plastic food packaging and drinking cups. For example, traders may offer consumers the opportunity to buy unpackaged ready-made food and unpackaged drink in the consumer's own packaging or cup. In this case, discounts may also be offered to encourage a reduction in the consumption of single-use plastic food packaging and drinking cups. As one of the measures, packaging companies will also be able to set the price for single-use packaging and offer the possibility of using a reusable alternative. In addition, there is a possibility to introduce some of the reuse solutions currently on the market. 

An earlier version of the draft act contained mandatory measures that each packaging undertaking should have taken to reduce food packaging and drinking cups. For example, packaging companies should have set a sales price of at least €0.5 for some food packaging and drinking cups, and by 2026 certain foods and drinks should have been packaged only in re-use packaging. By the proposal of the Chamber, these mandatory measures were excluded from the law and instead each packaging undertaking can decide on how to reduce the amount of single-use plastic food packaging and drinking cups.

2. Additional information to be submitted to the packaging register
Packaging companies will soon be required to submit information on the quantities of single-use plastic products to the packaging register (Section 24 (4¹) of the Packaging Act). Initially, data on single-use plastic food packaging and drinking cups should be provided. The new obligation is necessary to assess whether the packaging company has met its 2026 target of reducing the consumption of single-use plastic products.   

Packaging companies must submit new data to the packaging register for 2023 but, if possible, also the data for 2022 must be submitted (§ 39⁷ of the Packaging Act). According to an earlier version of the draft act, packaging undertakings should have submitted the corresponding data on a mandatory basis also for 2022, but on the proposal of the Chamber the obligation to submit the data was postponed by one year.

It is not yet known whether the data on food packaging and drinking cups must be submitted to the register in pieces or on a weight basis. According to the initial version of the draft amendment to the statutes of the packaging register, the quantity of packages and cups must be indicated in pieces.  

3. Exception for smaller packaging undertakings will disappear 
The current Packaging Act (Section 20 (7)) offers a number of benefits to packaging undertakings who place on the market up to 100 kg of plastic packaging and 200 kg of other types of packaging material per year. For example, such small packaging undertakings do not need to submit a packaging report to the packaging register and ensure the target for the recovery of packaging waste. Also, small packaging companies today do not have the obligation to take back the sales packaging and packaging waste of goods sold free of charge from consumers.

From 1 May, the specifications for small packaging companies will disappear. This means that small packaging companies will have to comply with a number of new obligations under the Packaging Act. Small packaging undertakings may in future transfer their new obligations to a recovery organisation by paying a service fee to the recovery organisation. 

4. Consumers should be provided with information on the presence of reusable food packaging and drinking cups 
A new principle will be added to the Packaging Act from 1 May (Section 5 (2) 4)) according to which a packaging undertaking must provide consumers at the point of sale with information on whether consumers can use reusable packaging for the purchase of ready-to-eat food or drink and whether it is possible to buy ready-to-eat food or drink in the place of sale in a food box or drink cup brought by the consumer and what requirements the consumer must take into account in such a case. 

5. Additional costs for packaging companies
As of 1 January 2024, packaging undertakings must bear additional costs related to single-use plastic products (Section 12¹ (4¹)-(4³) of the Packaging Act ). These products include single-use plastic food packaging, drinking containers of up to 3 litres, drinking cups, flexible material packaging and packaging materials, and thin and particularly thin plastic carrier bags. 

Packaging undertakings shall in future bear the costs of collecting waste from the aforementioned products discarded into public collection systems, including the costs of infrastructure and its operation, and of further transport and handling of such waste, and the costs of cleaning up and further transport and handling of the waste generated from such products.

Public collection systems are defined as waste bins managed by public authorities which are located in a public space. Bins located at the points of sale of packaging undertakings and managed by them shall not be considered as public collection systems. For example, a packaging undertaking that sells a hot drink to a consumer at a point of sale in a drinking cup made of plastic (including plastic) must bear the costs incurred when the consumer, after consumption, for example, throws such a drinking cup in a bin in a public area or in nature, the cost of emptying or cleaning of which has so far been borne by local authorities.

The methodology for calculating the aforementioned costs and the procedure for determining the costs shall be established by a regulation of the Minister of the Environment, but the content thereof is not yet known. The Packaging Act only specifies that the costs described must not exceed the cost of cost-effective provision of services and that the costs shall be determined in a transparent manner between the parties concerned.  

6. Notification obligation of packaging undertakings engaged in postal sales is specified
The amendment to the Packaging Act specifies the current requirement that the packaging undertaking engaged in postal sales must inform the end-user and the consumer of its right to return packaging and packaging waste to the transferor of the goods. In the future, a packaging undertaking who sells packaged goods and uses a postal service or another supplier of goods engaged in economic or professional activities for the delivery thereof is required to inform the end-user and consumer of the place of return of packaging and packaging waste free of charge (Section 20 (3)). The aforementioned services may include, for example, parcel terminals, mail order couriers, but also, for example, in-store or food couriers. Thus, the packaging undertaking has the possibility to receive the packaging immediately, but also the possibility to designate a suitable place for the delivery of the packaging, giving advance notice to the end-user and the consumer. It is important that the consumer can return the packaging free of charge. In order to comply with the requirement, it is sufficient for the packaging undertaking to refer to the www.kuhuviia.ee page, where information on public collection sites for packaging waste is gathered and the consumer can choose which point to use, if necessary.

An amendment to the Packaging Act (Section 20 (3¹)) also enters into force on 1 May, which gives the packaging undertaking the opportunity to organise the collection of packaging returned by the customer through the transferor of goods. Such an option shall be notified in advance to the end-user and the consumer. The end-user and the consumer must also have the possibility to inform the consumer when ordering the goods of the wish to return the packages upon delivery of the goods. The return of packaging shall be free of charge to the end-user and the consumer.  

7. Small points of sale will have a exceptions regarding the take-back of packaging waste 
Pursuant to the amendment to the Packaging Act which will enter into force soon (Section 20 (4¹)), the person selling packaged goods need not take back packaging and packaging waste if the size of the point of sale is less than 20 square metres and it is located in a densely populated area. At present, this exception applies only to packaging for which a deposit has been established. 

8. Deposit may also be used in the future for food packaging and beverage cups 
An amendment to the Packaging Act enters into force on 1 May (Section 21 (3²)), according to which the deposit may also be applied to single-use and reusable food packaging and drinking cups. 

9. Certain products banned from market in the future 
On 1 May, the amendment to the Waste Act enters into force (Waste Act, Sections 22³ and 22⁴) of the Waste Act, pursuant to which it is prohibited to place on the market for the first time the following single-use plastic products: cotton swabs, cutlery (knives, forks, spoons, chopsticks), plates, straws, drinking-mix sticks, balloon stalks for ordinary consumer use and products made of plastic degradable by oxidants, such as plastic carrier bags and agricultural film. 

At the same time, the amendment to the Packaging Act (Section 5 (3)) enters into force, according to which it is prohibited to place on the market packaging made of plastic degradable by oxidants and the following disposable plastic products made of polystyrene foam: food packaging, beverage packaging, beverage cups.  

The placing on the market is the first making available of a product on the Estonian market in the course of economic or professional activities. The prohibition on placing on the market therefore concerns, in particular, producers and importers of the aforementioned products. 

10. All points of sale must keep account of plastic bags in the future
If, pursuant to the current Packaging Act (Section 24²), a packaging undertaking is required to keep records of thin and particularly thin plastic carrier bags sold and provided free of charge to consumers at a place of sale with an area of more than 100 square metres and submit the data to the packaging register, then as of 1 May the packaging undertaking shall be required to keep records at each point of sale regardless of the area of the point of sale. 

11. Disposable dishes may not be used for public events 
From 1 January 2024, only reusable containers and (Section 5 (8) and 39⁵ of the Packaging Act) may be used for serving food and drink at public events. Compliance with this requirement shall be ensured by the organiser of the public event. If this requirement is violated, the penalty may be a fine of up to €1,200. If the requirement is violated by a legal person, the amount of the fine may be up to €200,000. A public event is an event that takes place in a public place and is an amusement event, a competition, a performance, a commercial event, or other similar thing, which is not a meeting. 

12. New requirements for single-use plastic beverage packaging will apply 
As of 3 July 2024, single-use plastic beverage packaging with a plastic cap or lid which holds up to 3 litres of liquid shall be permitted to be placed on the market only if the cap or lid remains attached to the packaging during the intended use phase of the product (Section 36² (1) of the Packaging Act). 

As of 1 January 2025, bottles containing polyethylene terephthalate (so-called PET bottles) as the main component and containing up to 3 litres of liquid must contain at least 25 per cent recycled plastic, calculated as the average of all PET bottles placed on the market in the territory of Estonia (Section 36² (3) of the Packaging Act). In connection to this, packaging undertakings are also required to submit to the packaging register information on the content of recycled plastic in the composition of plastic drinking bottles placed on the market, calculated as the average of plastic bottles placed on the market (Section 24 (4) of the Packaging Act). 

From 1 January 2030, plastic drinking bottles with a capacity of up to 3 litres shall contain at least 30 per cent recycled plastic, calculated as the average of all drinking bottles placed on the market in the territory of Estonia (Section § 36² (4) of the Packaging Act).   

The aforementioned requirements need not be applied to glass or metal beverage packaging and bottles, the cap or lid of which is made of plastic, and bottles intended for liquid use of food for medical purposes and used in such a manner (Section 36² (5) of the Packaging Act). Also, the requirement does not apply to plastic drinking bottles that can hold more than 3 litres of liquid.

13. New requirements applicable also for the collection of plastic drinking bottles 
By 2025 at the latest, packaging undertakings placing single-use plastic drinking bottles on the market shall collect at least 77 per cent of the quantity of drinking bottles placed on the market in the same calendar year per year. By 2029, the target rate is 90 per cent of the quantities placed on the market (Section 36 (5) of the Packaging Act). According to the Packaging Act, a single-use plastic beverage bottle is a beverage package with a cap or lid with a narrower neck or mouth containing up to three litres of liquid (Section 3 (7) (2 of the Packaging Act).   

14. Specific labelling requirements for certain single-use plastic products 
Products containing plastic which are placed on the Estonian market for the first time must bear a label informing the consumer of the presence of plastic in the product and its inappropriate disposal and its impact on the environment. This requirement concerns sanitary napkins, tampons and tampon applicators (labelling must appear on the packaging of the product) (Waste Act, Section 22⁵), wet wipes, i.e. pre-moistened wipe paper intended for personal care or household use (labelling must appear on the packaging of the product) (Waste Act, Section 22⁵), filter tobacco products and filters marketed for use with tobacco products (labelling must appear on the packaging of the product) (Tobacco Act, Section 12¹) and drinking cups (labelling must appear on the product) (Packaging Act, Section 23¹). 

The labelling requirements are directly applicable from Commission Implementing Regulation 2020/2151. Pursuant to the Implementing Regulation, as of 3 July 2021, the first-time placing on the Estonian market of the aforementioned non-labelled products is not permitted (Article 4 of the Implementing Regulation). 

15. Extended producer liability systems should be established for certain products
Under the amendments to the Waste Act, extended producer liability systems must be set up for personal use wet wipes, balloons and filters for tobacco products and tobacco products containing plastic and for fishing gear containing plastic. 

Manufacturers of wet wipes and balloons containing plastic for personal use shall bear the following costs in the future: costs related to awareness-raising measures, costs related to the cleaning of waste generated from the products concerned and their subsequent transport and handling, and costs related to data collection and reporting (Waste Act, Section 25²). 

Manufacturers of tobacco products with plastic-containing filters and filters marketed to be used with tobacco products shall bear the following costs: costs related to awareness-raising measures, costs related to the cleaning and further transport and handling of the waste generated from the products concerned, costs related to data collection and reporting, and costs related to the collection of products discarded into public collection systems, including infrastructure and its operation, and costs related to the further transport and handling of such waste (Waste Act, Section 25²). 

Manufacturers of plastic-containing fishing gear shall bear the following costs: costs related to the separate collection and subsequent transport and handling of plastic-containing end-of-life fishing gear and costs related to awareness-raising measures for plastic-containing fishing gear (Waste Act, Section 26²¹). 

New producer liability systems shall be established by 31 December 2024 at the latest, but in the case of extended producer liability systems and filters containing plastic, established before 4 July 2018, for tobacco products and filters intended for the use of tobacco products from 1 January 2024 (Waste Act, Section 136¹⁵). 

All amendments to the Packaging Act and Waste Act can be accessed HERE. 

If you have any questions about the changes to the Packaging Act or Waste Act coming into force soon, please contact the lawyers of the Chamber by e-mail juristid@koda.ee.