Packaging law obligations of food and beverage businesses

Reusable packaging is not subject to system participation. If you are using reusable packaging, you are required to register with the LUCID Packaging Register. In the register, you have to indicate that you are using reusable packaging to hand over food and beverages to your customers. The requirements for a reusables scheme are regulated by law. To learn more about the applicable obligations, check our knowledge base dedicated to packaging types.

If you are handing over lemonades or other beverages in single-use beverage packaging subject to deposit to customers, you are required to charge a deposit of at least €0.25 per packaging unit. The packaging itself must be bear a permanent, easily readable and clearly visible label to mark it as subject to deposit. The deposit obligation is triggered the first-time that filled single-use beverage packaging is distributed in Germany and must be complied with at every retail level up to the point that packaging is handed over to the final consumer. This also applies if the products are being imported into Germany. For more information about the statutory deposit obligation, please visit the website of Deutsche Pfandsystem GmbH (DPG).

If packaging is filled with food or beverages before they reach the point of sale, the goods are 'pre-packaged'. In this case, the packaging is not considered service packaging, but rather retail packaging. There are two scenarios:

If you manufacture and package the products yourself, you have three obligations to fulfil regarding your retail packaging:

1. Register with the LUCID Packaging Register.

2. Enter into a system participation agreement with a system operator. Please refer to this list for an overview of system operators.

3. You now have to regularly report your packaging volumes that are subject to system participation to both your system operator and the LUCID Packaging Register (data reporting).

If you are sourcing pre-packaged goods from another company, you are usually not the party under obligation under the Verpackungsgesetz (Packaging Act). You are only considered the party under obligation if you have commissioned the filling of the packaging and if the packaging bears only your brand or name. Check our FAQ dedicated to contract packaging to learn more.

• Snack, lunch, food, noodle and folding boxes and soup, fruit and dressing cups, jars with lids used for takeaway food such as salad, sushi and soup,

• conical bags, trays for chips, salad, meals, snacks and fast food, pizza boxes used by fast food restaurants and pizzerias,

• bags, boxes, cups for things like nachos, popcorn and ice cream used at ice cream parlours and cinemas,

• wrappings, deli paper, aluminium and plastic wrapping, snack bags used to pack things like kebabs, fish rolls or sandwiches,

• takeaway and disposable cups for hot and cold drinks (with or without lid) used in amusement parts, restaurants or canteens for things like coffee, soft drinks, juices, smoothies or milkshakes

• Carrier bags of any kind

The packaging law obligations depend on the legal status of the branch or outlet in question. If your branches or outlets

• are separate legal entities with their own entry in the commercial register and

• they fill retail, service or shipment packaging with goods and place it on the German market,

they each need their own registration in the LUCID Packaging Register.

A level playing field is key if we want to protect our environment. Companies must ensure that their packaging harms the environment as little as possible. This is referred to as assuming 'producer responsibility', which governed by the Verpackungsgesetz (Packaging Act). Where packaging cannot be prevented, all market players that distribute packaged goods must be registered with the LUCID Packaging Register. Another factor is that 'high-quality' recycling of packaging waste is only possible in a financially sound market. That is why you are required to pay for the recycling of your retail, grouped or shipment packaging that is subject to system participation by concluding a 'system participation agreement' with a system operator.