Single-use plastic

Public cleansing

In Denmark, public cleansing is primarily done by local authorities, the Danish Road Directorate, and the Danish Nature Agency. This covers collection, clearance, and sweeping of littered waste as well as collection from public waste receptacles.

How much and how often public cleansing is carried out varies much. By far most of the public cleansing task is carried out on concrete hotspots with many visitors. This may be pedestrian streets, squares, parks, rest areas, and motorway ramps, along with beaches and some natural areas.

Responsibility for cleaning up litter

Much of the waste that is collected in public waste receptacles or littered in public areas consists of so-called single-use plastic.

The Single-Use Plastics (SUP) Directive imposes on businesses producing or importing single-use plastic products a so- called producer responsibility. The producer responsibility applies to the above product types and covers a inancial responsibility for cleaning up litter.

This means that businesses placing this type of products on the market must inance a share of the costs for public cleansing, collection, and disposal.

The magnitude of your inancing is based on the number of products placed on the market, and it is calculated as a corresponding share of the total costs of public cleansing.

Yes, the following products are already subjected to a sales ban as there are substitution options:

• Cutlery (forks, knives, spoons, chopsticks)
• Plates
• Straws and cotton bud sticks (with the exception of those that are used with active implantable medical devices or other medical devices)
• Beverage stirrers
• Sticks to be attached to and to support balloons, except balloons for industrial or other professional uses and applications that are not distributed to consumers, including the mechanisms of such sticks
• Food containers made from expanded polystyrene (EPS) also called foam plastic or thermoplastic (i.e. styrofoam boxes with or without a lid) for fast food or other meal ready for immediate consumption that is typically consumed from the receptacle or is ready to be consumed without any further preparation
• Products manufactured from oxo-degradable plastic
• Beverage containers made of expanded polystyrene (EPS) also called foam plastic or thermoplastic, including their caps and lids
• Cups for beverages made of expanded polystyrene (EPS) also called foam plastic or thermoplastic, including their caps and lids

Products that cannot yet be substituted by better alternatives are subjected to restrictions on placing on the market in the form of targets for consumption reduction. The purpose is to promote innovation and product development of better alternatives.

In the EU, a number of pictograms have been created that must be placed on certain product groups for them to be placed on the market legally.

For single-use plastic products the marking shows a dead sea turtle together with the product in question, accompanied by the wording: PLASTIC IN PRODUCT. The message is that plastics, including microplastics, are harmful to nature and the environment.

Read about producer responsibility and product marking

Registration

Businesses placing tobacco product ilters on the market must register in the producer register. In Denmark, this register is administered by DPA. For existing producers and importers registration must be completed no later than 1 June 2023.

Reporting and payment

Every quarter of a year registered businesses report the number of filters sold. Reporting is done in pieces, and a fee corresponding per filter placed on the market in the period is paid to cover the cost of cleaning up litter. The reporting itself must be done with MST via virk.dk. Please refer to the fee rate in the latest regulation.

Financial responsibility for cleaning up litter

By contrast to existing producer responsibility ields under which affected businesses have the responsibility for taking back end-of-life products in view of preparing them for recycling into new products, producers of single-use plastic products have a so-called responsibility for cleaning up litter. (See above)

Article 8 of the Single-Use Plastics Directive describes the cleaning task as follows:

• ”[…] the costs of waste collection for those products that are discarded in public collection systems, including the infrastructure and its operation, and the subsequent transport and treatment of that waste.”
• ”[…]  The costs may include the setting up of specific infrastructure for the waste collection for those products, such as appropriate waste receptacles in common litter hotspots.”
• ”[…]  The costs of cleaning up litter shall be limited to activities undertaken by public authorities or on their behalf. “

Businesses “making a product available or placing it on the market for the irst time” in Denmark are subject to producer responsibility.

Danish CVR number

Only producers or importers can be considered as the first level at the distribution chain in a country. In Denmark, this means having a Danish CVR number. However, for instance distance selling by a foreign business directly to end-users in Denmark will also trigger a producer responsibility; this responsibility covers the appointment of a so-called authorised representative with a Danish CVR number. This representative must register in line with producers in the Danish producer register.

Producer responsibility following the product

When a producer or an importer in Denmark delivers a product to a distributor or an end-user for the irst time, this product is considered as being placed on the market. The physical delivery of a product is not needed for it to be considered as being placed on the market. For instance, at the conclusion of an agreement on delivery of a product produced or imported into Denmark the producer responsibility and the duty of registration will take effect.