Environmental product charge system changed again from 1 January

As recession hit different industries to a varying extent, actors in the packaging industry sensed the crisis differently. Those who produce packaging for daily consumer goods were affected less or hardly at all. – However, those companies that financed their developments and production by loans found themselves in a difficult situation, because banks were much more reluctant to grant loans – explains Miklós Nagy, the secretary of a the National Packaging and Material Transport Association (CSAOSZ). The most important packaging material is paper (in both value and volume), plastic is second, followed by metal, glass and wood. Turnover of all types improved in the past nine years. Secondary raw material (manufactured from recollected packaging waste) use is practiced in the case of all packaging materials. The original goal of the environmental product charge system was to recollect more packaging material waste from year to year. Regulation kept changing in the past 15 years and the new changes take effect as of 1 January 2010: from this date the base of calculating the product charge will be the product’s weight in the case of retail packaging too – the charge will be significantly higher than ‘normal’ charges (HUF 6-44/kg, depending on packaging material type). Further, mostly administrative changes were also introduced which aim at simplifying administration.