It may soon be the end of buying deposit-free beer and soft drinks south of the border.
This is the consequence of the fact that the EU Parliament adopted the so-called packaging regulation on Wednesday, which, among other things, aims to reduce the amount of plastic that ends up in nature.
The regulation also states that by 2029 at the latest, a deposit must be collected on cans and bottles in all EU countries.
This means that the German special scheme, which until now has made it possible to avoid paying a deposit if you export cans to another EU country, will no longer apply.
This is welcomed by Dansk Erhverv, which represents, among other things, the Danish stores that have felt exposed to unfair competition from the German competitors from the south.
– The new rules are hugely important, and we will push for compliance to take place as soon as possible.
– However, there is a long time to 2029, and it is important for both the environment and fair and equal conditions of competition that there is a deposit on German cans, says Henrik Hyltoft, who is deputy director of Dansk Erhverv.
Dansk Erhverv estimates that every year 650 million cans come to Denmark without a deposit, and although many of them are recycled, some also end up in nature.
In a press release from the Ministry of the Environment, Minister of the Environment Magnus Heunicke (S) calls the packaging regulation a victory for Danish nature.
– We have fought for 20 years to get a deposit on German cans and to solve the problem of deposit-free cans from German cross-border shops ending up in Danish nature.
– With the packaging regulation, it is completely established that a deposit must be collected in Germany, regardless of where the cans are sold and to whom they are sold, he writes.
The president of Denmark’s Nature Conservation Association, Maria Reumert Gjerding, also calls the regulation “really good news for nature and the return system”.
– Since the mid-00s, we have collected more than two million cans, of which at least eight out of ten have been deposit-free border cans, so this will have a significant effect, she writes in the press release from the Ministry of the Environment.
/ritzau/
2024-04-24 11:12:39
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