Change in SUP legislation

8 januari 2024

From January 2023, things will change around our coffee cups and bowls. Previously, the producer was responsible for the Waste Management Contribution from Afvalfonds Verpakkingen, but this is now changing. A SUP surcharge will also have to be paid with this declaration. In this blog we will update you on the changes for the coming year.

What is the SUP legislation?

Let's start at the beginning. The Single Use Plastic legislation (SUP legislation) is an European directive which target is to reduce the environmental impact of single-use plastics. The directive contains a package of measures aimed at reducing the amount of single-use plastics in litter and in the sea. The first measures started on July 3, 2021. For example, plastic plates, straws and stirrers were banned and a SUP logo was made mandatory on coffee cups. New measures will be added from January 1 of 2023. This concerns two things: The waste management contribution for packaging and the SUP surcharge.

Waste management contribution Packaging

When we talk about packaging, it concerns (according to Afvalfonds Verpakkingen, 2022) all products, made of materials of any kind, that can be used for the containment, protection, loading, delivery and offering of other products, from raw materials to finished products. Products, over the entire process from producer to user or consumer.

The Packaging Waste Management Contribution has different rates, depending on the type of material. The rate is determined by the costs of collection, separation and recycling of the specific material. So the more sustainable the packaging, the lower the contribution! These possible additional costs lead to a price increase for some products.

Below in the table you can see the costs that apply to our cups/bowls:

Material	Rates in € per kg excl. TVA
Material	Rate 2023	Rate 2022	Rate 2021
Paper & cardboard	0,012€	0,022€	0,022€
Plastic (regular rate)	1,050€	0,700€	0,670€
Plastic (lower rate) *	0,790€	0,440€	0,410€

SUP surcharge

The SUP surcharge is on top of the waste management contribution. This surcharge applies to single-use food packaging made entirely or partly of plastic. This also concerns packaging that contains a thin (bio) plastic coating. This includes cardboard coffee cups and cardboard food packaging (bowls), but also our lids. But, it excludes all the biodegradable food containers like biodegradable coffee cups or bowls if they contain no plastic at ALL.

In the table below you can see the additional costs per 1000 for our packaging:

Storage Component SUP Packaging	Storage 2023 per 1,000 pieces excl. VAT
Drinking cups	2,30€
Beverage packaging	2,30€
Shape-retaining SUP food packaging	2,30€
Flexible SUP food packaging	2,30€

Important! Customers who instruct us to produce printed (SUP) take away packaging with their logo or corporate identity are themselves considered producers/importers. That is why they are also responsible for the declarations. We advise you to follow the information from the Packaging Waste Fund yourself.

Disclaimer
On this page we summarize what the most important points are for you as a CUPSZ customer. This is not a summary of what it means for your entire company. You will probably also deal directly with the Waste Fund and possibly report to them.

Would you like more information? Below are 2 interesting blogs that can help you!