Recycling levy 2025 - who has to pay the levy and when?
Shopkeepers and wholesalers who offer plastic bags to their customers are required to pay a recycling fee. How much is the plastic bag levy in 2025 and by when do you have to pay it? Find out the most important information about the recycling levy.
What is subject to the recycling levy?
The recycling fee covers all bags for plastic shopping with the exception of so-called rip-offs, which are very lightweight bags made of material less than 15 micrometres thick:
- necessary for hygiene reasons,
- used as primary packaging for food sold in bulk (as long as they prevent food waste).
This means that the recycling charge is not levied on, for example, carrier bags on a roll or plastic bags used to package fresh bread, fruit and vegetables, meat, cheese, etc.
Obligations of the economic operator relating to the recycling levy
Each trader running a shop or a wholesale business (retail or wholesale unit) where plastic shopping bags are offered to customers, is obliged:
- collection of the recycling levy from purchasers (customers),
- payment of the fee collected recycling into the relevant bank account within the agreed deadlines,
- record keeping covering the number of bags purchased and issued (light bags, i.e. 15 to 40 microns, and other bags, i.e. 50 microns and over) either on paper or electronically. Owners of several retail outlets must keep separate records for each outlet,
- submit an annual report on the number of plastic bags purchased and issued to customers (so-called packaging and product reports).
Recycling levy rate 2025 - how much is the charge for commercials?
From 1 September 2019, the rate of the recycling levy is 20 worse for each piece plastic shopping bags, regardless of their thickness.
The recycling fee may be the total cost of purchasing such a bag or may be added to the price of the bag set by the retailer.
By when is the recycling levy due in 2025?
The recycling charge shall be settled quarterly. It shall be paid by the 15th day of the month following the quarter in which the fee was collected.
In 2025, the recycling fee must be paid:
- For Q1 - by 15 April 2025,
- For Q2 - by 15 July 2025,
- for Q3 - by 15 October 2025,
- For the fourth quarter - by 15 January 2026.
Are you collecting a recycling levy? You are obliged to register with BDO!
Shopkeepers and wholesalers who are obliged to charge a recycling fee are also required to obtain an entry in the BDO register. An application for entry must be submitted prior to the commencement of operations commercial. For selling plastic bags to customers without the required entry in the BDO, a trader can be fined between PLN 5,000 and PLN 1 million!
Want hassle-free paperwork? Entrust your BDO registration to the experts at Interzero!
After registration with BDO you will receive a registration numberand the province marshal will create an individual account for your company in the system and send you a login and password. An account in the BDO register is necessary for the submission of the annual report on the number of bags with a thickness of 15 to 49 micrometres and 50 micrometres and above purchased and issued to customers - this obligation can only be fulfilled electronically!
FAQ
Find out the answers to the most common questions about the plastic bag recycling charge.
Recycling charge the purchaser (usually the consumer) pays plastic bags. The trader selling the bag only collects the recycling fee and passes it on to the to the Marshal.
The recycling fee covers all plastic bags with the exception of very lightweight bags (with a material thickness of less than 15 micrometres) used for hygiene reasons or as primary packaging for bulk food products (provided they prevent food waste).
Yes, provided they are made available to purchasers for hygiene reasons or as primary food packaging sold in bulk. In other cases, e.g. when so-called rip-offs are used to package products or products other than food, a recycling fee must be paid for them.
Yes. The purchaser of the plastic bag is obliged to pay the recycling fee and the trader selling the bag is obliged to collect it and then transfer it to the bank account of the provincial marshal within a certain period of time. Exceptions are bags with a material thickness of less than 15 micrometresas long as they are used for hygienic reasons or as primary packaging for bulk food to prevent waste.
The recycling fee collected from customers shall be paid to to an account held with the marshal of the province with jurisdiction over the place of business economic.
Not. The recycling levy provisions only apply to plastic bags.
Do you want to offer your customers more sustainable alternatives to plastic bags? Find out what to replace rip-offs and single-use plastic bags with!