European legislation places the responsibility for the recovery and recycling of packaging waste onto companies that handle packaging at any stage of the supply chain.
Each EU member country, in response to the EC Directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste, has implemented this legislation into national legislation. This EC Packaging Waste Directive sets recovery and recycling targets for each member country, and aims to prevent the production of packaging waste by reduction, reuse, recycling and recovery.
Find out more about the UK Packaging Waste Regulations.
Many European countries have adopted the Green Dot® system, whereby obligated companies use the Green Dot® symbol to prove that they have complied with this piece of legislation.
We manage the Green Dot® trademark in the UK on behalf of PRO Europe. It is very important to note that the UK Green Dot® licence DOES NOT represent compliance with the UK Packaging Waste Regulations.
Please contact us for further information about the UK Packaging Waste Regulations.
If you are exporting packaging to other European countries, please be aware that the Green Dot® means different things in different countries. You may be required, by law, to display this symbol on your packaging.
The UK Green Dot® licence does not cover your Green Dot® usage in other countries. If you display the Green Dot® symbol on packaging which you export to other countries, you may need to pay a Green Dot® licence fee in each respective country.
The UK Green Dot® is NOT a recycling symbol; it is a trademark agreement only. This means that it is not mandatory to display it on packaging in the UK. Find out more about recycling symbols here.