Since 1 January 2021, the European Union has charged its member states €0.80 for every kilogram of plastic packaging waste that is not recycled. The money goes into the European Union budget. Poorer member states get a fixed reduction.
It is paid by national governments, not directly by businesses. Governments decide how to cover it. Several also have, or plan, their own plastic taxes on businesses: Spain taxes non-reusable plastic packaging at €0.45 per kg, Italy plans the same rate from 2027, and Germany’s government said in April 2026 that it will introduce a plastic levy.
In 2023 the levy raised €7.2 billion, 4.0% of the European Union’s total revenue. Germany paid the most, about €1.6 billion, followed by France at about €1.4 billion. The European Court of Auditors audited it in 2024 and found that member states were not well prepared, and that the waste data used was “not sufficiently comparable and reliable”.
In July 2025 the European Commission proposed raising the rate to €1 per kg from 2028, then indexing it to inflation.
For businesses, it matters because it gives governments a direct financial reason to cut plastic packaging waste, and to put more of that cost on the businesses that create it.
Download the European Court of Auditors report, Special report 16/2024 (PDF, 2.9 MB). © European Union, 2024, licensed CC BY 4.0 and republished unchanged. Original on the European Court of Auditors website.