From January 2023, all fruit syrup and juice products in plastic and metal packaging must be connected to the deposit system according to the regulation. The exception for beverages that contain the majority of fruit, berries or vegetables will be removed from 2023 and also the exception for beverages that are not ready for consumption at the time of purchase. This means that it will be mandatory to connect fruit syrup, juices and other beverage concentrates to the return system from January 2023.

The exception for dairy-based beverages remains until 2029, when these will also be covered by the return system. But it is possible to voluntarily connect dairy drinks on metal packaging before that.

Why is this happening?

In order to reduce litter and environmental impact from plastic packaging, the EU adopted a directive against disposable plastic products in June 2019. Now in November, the directive has been transposed into Swedish legislation through new laws and amendments to existing regulations. One regulation that is affected is Ordinance (2005: 220) on return systems for plastic bottles and metal cans.

Transition from voluntary to regulation-governed connection agreement

Producers who have a voluntary connection agreement today with Returpack, and have fruit syrup and/or juices registered for a deposit, will need to sign a new connection agreement. The voluntary agreement will be terminated and if the producer does not have a connection agreement according to the regulation, it will need to be signed earlier.

Security agreements are not affected by the transition.

The difference for producers who go from a voluntary agreement to the regulation-governed agreement is that from the calendar year 2023, an annual fee for supervision will be charged. 

For those producers who want to join the deposit system with fruit syrup and juice products and get started with sales before the turn of the year, the voluntary agreement applies for the rest of the year. Application forms can be found here: Voluntary agreement

Schedule

During the autumn of 2022, Returpack will contact the concerned producers for a transition to regulation-governed connection agreements. The voluntary connection agreements for producers with fruit syrup and juice will be terminated at the turn of the year.

Questions and contact

If you have any questions, you can contact us at avtal@returpack.se or 011-191970.