The new ‘small print’ that all product packaging must include starting this year

In December 2022, the Government approved a royal decree with a series of rules to regulate and improve the waste and packaging managementwith the aim of reducing packaging waste, encouraging reuse and refilling and, ultimately, improving the impact on the environment.

This text, although it came into force at the end of that year, gave two years of margin for the adoption of some measures, so, as of this Wednesday, they are also mandatory.

Specifically, these measures are those included in the article 13 of said text, ‘marking and information obligations’. This article describes what information the labeling can contain, what information it cannot incorporate and, above all, what information it is required to display. Regarding the latter, the second section stands out:

“Domestic packaging will indicate the fraction or container in which said packaging waste must be deposited. In the case of packaging made of different materials, if they can be easily separated, the fraction or container where they should be deposited will be indicated. When they cannot be separated materials easily, or in the case of composite packaging, the fraction or container corresponding to the predominant material by weight will be indicated, unless it is demonstrated that there is a better collection alternative that would avoid possible incidents in the subsequent recycling process, indicating this. case the container in which it should be deposited.”

Therefore, the packaging must include a section that clarifies to which container or containers they should be deposited for correct recycling.

Likewise, the containers must indicate if they are reusable if they are, or if they belong to the Deposit, Return and Return System (SDDR), which we recently told you about in elEconomista.es.

In short, this system seeks to guarantee the correct treatment of packaging through economic incentives for consumers. Under this system, each consumer who purchases a plastic container will pay an additional amount for it, which will only be refunded if they return it correctly once empty.

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