SUP Directive and SUP products

 

The Single-Use Plastics (SUP) Directive (2019/904/EU) is part of the European Union's legislation aimed at reducing the environmental burden of single-use plastic products, especially plastic pollution in the seas and in nature.

The Directive requieres Member States to restrict and replace problematic products, promote recycling, and impose extended producer responsibility (EPR) for certain products.

Single-Use Plastics, 2019/904/EU

Key objectives of the SUP Directive

  • Reduces consumption and littering of single-use plastics

  • Promote a circular economy, reusable alternatives and efficient use of materials

  • Harmonise product regulation in the EU internal market

  • Shift environmental responsibility to producers, not just consumers or municipalities

SUP Directive obligations for businesses

The SUP Directive has extended producer responsibility. Companies that manufacture, import or package SUP products are obliged to:

  • Cover municipal waste management and litter clean-up costs for their products
  • Ensure separate collection and recycling of products
  • Report the quantities of their SUP products to the producer organization
  • Comply with product labeling and design requirements, such as tethered caps on beverage containers

Special attention must be paid to distance selling: an EU-based distance seller who sells SUP products to Finland is obliged to appoint an authorised representative in Finland to carry out producer responsibility tasks on behalf of the company.

SUP products - what are they?

 

Certain single-use plastic products and fishing gear containing plastic are subject to extended producer responsibility under the SUP Directive.

The Directive does not define plastic products by the amount of plastic they contain - even a small amount of plastic is enough to bring a product within the scope of regulation, e.g. disposable cardboard cups.

SUP products are single-use items made wholly or partly of plastic, intended to be used only once before disposal or recycling.

Completely banned products:

  • Cotton buds
  • Disposable cutlery (forks, knives, spoons)
  • Plates, straws and stirrers
  • Balloon stems
  • Food containers made of expanded polystyrene (EPS and XPS)
  • All oxo-degradable plastic products

 

Products covered by extended producer responsibility:

  • Takeaway food containers
  • Beverage containers and cups
  • Plastic carrier bags
  • Filtered tobacco products
  • Wet wipes and sanitary products
  • Balloons
  • Fishing gear containing plastic

Packaging producer organizations manage responsibility for the following SUP product categories:
  • Rigid food containers (with or without lids) used for ready-to-eat foods, intended to be consumed immediately on-site or taken away, typically eaten from the container, and requiring no further preparation. Applies to single-portion packaging. Plates are excluded.
  • Packages or wrappers made of flexible material containing food meant to be consumed directly from the packaging without additional preparation. Applies to packages under 3 liters in volume (portion size irrelevant).
  • Beverage containers of up to 3 liters, such as plastic bottles and their caps/lids, and composite packaging with plastic caps/lids. Excludes glass or metal beverage containers with plastic caps/lids, and containers for alcoholic beverages over 22% ABV.
  • Beverage cups and their caps and lids
  • Lightweight plastic carrier bags

 

See here for more detailed examples on whether a package falls under SUP regulation:

SUP listing

SUP fees and reporting

Producer organizations charge fees for SUP products. Costs are determined by a Government Decree and based on the quantities and categories of SUP products reported by companies.

Producers must report data annually and ensure that products comply with all obligations – including labeling requirements such as symbols warning against littering.

SUP fees are always invoiced retrospectively for the previous calendar year, and prices are published only after companies have reported their annual data and it has been sufficiently verified.

 

Click here to see the SUP fees for 2024