FAQ - Waste Management
In Denmark, we handle waste differently depending on whether it comes from households (private citizens) or businesses.
The municipalities are still responsible for the collection of waste from households, while private actors handle waste from businesses.
Read more about waste treatment and the consequences for reporting
Companies that are subject to producer responsibility, or the party responsible for the treatment of packaging waste at any given time, must ensure high real recycling of packaging waste, so that the recycling targets set by the EU are at least met. It is the responsible company that must document that the waste in question is delivered to facilities that can recycle the waste and document how much of the waste is actually recycled after treatment.
No: Waste-producing companies only have to pay for the handling of waste that is not packaging. The producer must pay for the part that is packaging.
A packaging is registered in the producer responsibility by the company that first makes it available on the Danish market, with commercial use as the end user. When the packaging becomes commercial waste, it is collected by a private waste collector, who is compensated by the producer responsibility organisation (PRO).
Read more about waste treatment under producer responsibility
Packaging for general waste
The starting point is that all packaging is reported as general waste. It is only in cases where a packaging is designed to be sorted as residual or hazardous waste according to the sorting guidelines that it should not be reported in the category of general waste.
Read the Environmental Agency's sorting guidelines (Danish)
Most packaging will therefore be expected to be categorized as this type of waste divided into material categories:
- paper
- cardboard
- ferrous metals
- aluminum
- glass
- plastic
- food and beverage cartons
- wood
- ceramics
- porcelain
- cork.
Packaging for residual waste
Waste that is not covered by other established collection or assignment schemes. This means waste that is not recyclable, not hazardous, or not covered by another scheme with producer responsibility. This could include pizza boxes.
The packaging must be designed to fall under this category. It does not matter what you expect the end user to do with the packaging.
Packaging for hazardous waste
Substances, materials, or products that are exhausted, such as chlorine-based cleaners, paints, and spray cans, etc.
Read the Environmental Agency's sorting guidelines (Danish)
Hazardous waste must not contain products that can pose a danger in the collection and treatment, such as fireworks.
The packaging must be designed to fall under this category. It does not matter what you expect the end user to do with the packaging.
If you are in doubt, you can read the Environmental Agency's sorting guidelines (Danish).
A take-back scheme means that producers have the opportunity to organize the return of their packaging themselves and recycle or reuse it - either in their own production or with another private processor. This can, for example, be in the form of deposit schemes.
In a take-back scheme, the company itself handles the collection, sorting, and processing of its packaging waste. This differs from, for example, an offer where the company allows its customers to return packaging upon delivery and then disposes of it as part of its commercial waste.
The rules regarding self-operated take-back schemes are set by the statutory order on packaging.
Waste-producing companies that deliver their waste to a bring scheme (recycling stations) cannot apply for compensation, as costs for packaging waste are covered by the municipality's fee for collection, which is included in producer responsibility. This means that the fee for using the recycling station should be lower.