Italy delays plastic packaging tax to January 2022

LONDON (ICIS)–The Italian government officially confirmed that Italy’s €450/tonne plastic packaging tax will be delayed until January 2022.

Market sources based in Italy had previously reported the delay on 13 May, but there had been no initial confirmation from an official government source.

The tax has been postponed several times already.

The tax will be payable by packaging producers, with recycled plastics and compostable biodegradable plastics set to be exempt.

Full details of how the tax would be implemented had been expected in April, ahead of an expected July implementation, but have not yet been published.

The postponement of the tax follows the election of a new Italian government in February 2021.

Coupled with this, Spain’s €450/tonne plastics tax faces further delays as a new draft of the government’s bill on waste and contaminated soil is sent through parliament for debate.

Sources in the recycled polyethylene terephthalate (R-PET) market have said the tax may not come into effect until early 2022.

Previously, the Spanish tax had widely been expected to come into effect by the end of June or early July 2021.

The introduction of plastic packaging taxes in Spain and Italy had been expected to increase demand from the region for recycled polymers in 2021.

Front page picture source: imageBROKER/Shutterstock

Additional reporting by Matt Tudball