Declaration
As a member of Fost Plus, every year you have to submit a declaration for all the household packaging that your company puts on the market. But how and when do you submit your declaration? What if you are declaring for the first time? How is your contribution calculated? And which packaging do you declare to Fost Plus?
You submit your declaration via our online declaration system, MyFost. You can access the system with a login and a password that you will receive from Fost Plus or via itsme®.
Via MyFost, as a Fost Plus member not only can you submit your declaration, but you can also consult invoices, request reports and manage your account.
The deadline for the annual declaration is always 28 February for the packaging that you put on the market the previous year. In other words, you submit the declaration for the packaging that you put on the market in 2022 by 28 February 2023 at the latest.
Be sure to submit your declaration on time! Otherwise, you risk a fine amounting to 1% of the contribution from your previous declaration per month of delay.
After you have joined Fost Plus, you have to submit your first declaration at the start of the next calendar year.
You can also join Fost Plus retroactively for up to the previous five years, if your company has been putting packaging on the market for a long time, for example.
Once you have joined, we contact you straight away in any case and help you to submit your first declaration step by step.
The annual contribution for your company is calculated based on the Green Dot rates. Each packaging material is allocated a Green Dot rate that reflects the actual cost of collection, sorting and recycling. The revenue that Fost Plus obtains from the sale of the materials is also taken into account.
Depending on the declaration system that you choose, the rates are applied per kg or per unit.
The minimum contribution is EUR 100. If you put obstructive packaging or Household Hazardous Waste packaging on the market, the minimum contribution is EUR 250. If you opt for payment by direct debit, you receive a discount of EUR 50.
You do not pay any contribution for reusable packaging in your declaration. If you declare solely reusable packaging, you pay the minimum contribution.
Every year, you have to submit a declaration to Fost Plus for all the household packaging that your company puts on the market. You have to declare both your single-use and your reusable packaging.
For industrial packaging you have to join Valipac. If you are a member of both Fost Plus and Valipac, you can submit a joint declaration via MyFost.
It is usually clear whether an element around a product is packaging or not. Bottles, butter tubs and tin cans are clear examples of packaging. After all, their sole function is to package a product.
It becomes more complicated if the packaging has one or more additional functions or can be used for a different purpose afterwards, such as a mustard jar, a lipstick holder or a coat hanger.
Together with the Interregional Packaging Commission (IRPC), Fost Plus has drawn up a list of packaging that often causes doubts.
The use of the packaged product determines the category into which the packaging falls. So the packaging around a household product is household and the packaging around an industrial product is industrial.
Some products can be used for both household and industrial purposes:
- A television set is usually a household product, but it can also be used industrially. In both cases, however, the packaging around a television set is considered to be household packaging.
- The volume plays a role for certain products. Drinks packaging with a content of less than 20 litres, for example, is considered to be household packaging. Drinks packaging with a content of over 20 litres is industrial. For a product like mayonnaise, the limit is 1.2 kg.
Fost Plus and Valipac have drawn up a list of products that may cause doubts about which category they belong to.
Reusable packaging is a type of packaging intended and designed to be reused a minimum number of times during its useful life. This means that it can be refilled or used again for the same purpose. The packaging must meet certain technical requirements and be included in a system that enables reuse.
Examples include drinks bottles on which a deposit is paid, reusable checkout bags or Euro pallets.
As regards reusable packaging, only the information obligation applies. You can fulfil this obligation by joining Fost Plus (household packaging) or Valipac (industrial packaging). You can also declare your reusable packaging directly to the Interregional Packaging Commission (IRPC).
Service packaging is packaging that is used to offer goods or services to the consumer. This packaging is usually only applied the moment when the product is sold to the consumer.
Examples of service packaging include bread bags, wrapping paper, pizza boxes, processed meat pots, checkout bags, disposable cups, etc.
A multipack is a type of household packaging that combines several individually packed products and is intended to be sold in this way to the consumer. The consumer can remove this multipack without affecting the properties of the individual products. Think for example of the packaging around plastic drink bottles or individually wrapped biscuits.
Not sure about the declaration for a specific packaging?
Fost Plus is happy to help! Contact our helpdesk on + 32 (0)2 775 03 58 or send an email to members@fostplus.be.