From 2024, the Single-Use Plastics Fund Act will oblige manufacturers to bear the costs of their single-use plastic products collected as waste in streets or parks. To this end, the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) is setting up the digital platform DIVID, which is now to go live in stages from 1 April 2024.
Anyone who manufactures to-go food containers or tobacco filters (products) and other disposable plastic articles, will be subject to extended producer responsibility from 2024 - This means that you are obliged to contribute to the costs of public collection, cleaning and disposal in public spaces and waste counselling in particular. The details of this cost contribution are regulated by the Single-Use Plastic Fund Act, which was announced on 15 May 2023 and obliges manufacturers to bear the costs of their single-use plastic products collected as waste in streets or parks from 2024. For the administration and processing of the the levies to be paid by companies into the Single-Use Plastic Fund the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) is setting up the digital platform DIVID.
According to the current schedule, this will gradually go into operation from 1 April 2024. By then, the complex IT infrastructure, which high safety requirements must be finalised. Domestic manufacturers will therefore not be able to register until 1 April 2024. From this date, it will be possible for foreign manufacturers and their authorised representatives to create an account on DIVID. The UBA will provide information on the gradual provision of the platform for further user groups and the activation of new functionalities as soon as possible via DIVID and on the homepage http://www.ewkf.de inform.
"We want to make the digital implementation of the Single-Use Plastics Fund Act secure and as user-friendly as possible. Due to the estimated fund volume of around 430 million euros from 2025, careful implementation is our top priority. We are therefore taking the time that is still needed to set up the sophisticated technology in compliance with the law, even if this leads to DIVID becoming available at a later date.“
Dirk Messner, UBA President
Who is the Single-Use Plastic Fund aimed at?
From 2025, affected manufacturers who supply or sell certain single-use plastic products on the market for the first time will pay into the Single-Use Plastic Fund. The amount to be paid depends on the product type and mass. Cities and municipalities as well as other legal entities under public law can report their collection or cleaning measures and other eligible services to the UBA. The funds paid in will then be distributed pro rata to the beneficiaries. The processing of the required data reporting will start on 1 January 2025 and, like registration, will take place via the DIVID platform.
The UBA manages the Single-Use Plastics Fund, including the register for manufacturers and entitled parties, digitally via the Single-Use Plastics Fund platform DIVID. From 2025, the UBA will determine the amount of the levy to be paid by the individual manufacturers and the amount of payments to cities, municipalities and other authorised parties. Furthermore, the UBA is responsible for categorising single-use plastic products, determining the product type and establishing the manufacturer status within the meaning of the Single-Use Plastics Fund Act.
DIVID enables the UBA the digital processing of all registrations and payments of the estimated 56,000 taxpayers and the annual distribution of funds to an estimated 6,400 beneficiaries. The platform is the central instrument for fund-related communication between external users and the UBA as well as for the associated internal administrative processes. It enables the proper collection and distribution of the annual fund volume of around 430 million euros.
Source: UBA