The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Russia has prepared a draft government decree setting basic environmental collection rates and coefficients for 2026. They will be required to be paid by participants in the extended responsibility of manufacturers of goods and packaging (ROP) who do not plan to dispose of themselves, the ministry's press service told TASS.
"Base rates are planned to be set for 52 groups of goods and packaging. When calculating the coefficient, the complexity of waste extraction for further disposal, the availability of such technological capabilities, and the demand for secondary raw materials on the market are taken into account. In addition, the number of material processing cycles is taken into account, that is, how many times the raw materials can be used to produce new products. Thus, the more environmentally friendly the products are, the lower the coefficient," the report says.
It is proposed to raise the current eco-collection rates to economically reasonable ones. More than others, the rate for non-ecological combined packaging consisting of polymer-aluminum materials used for packing sauces and similar products will increase by 91%. According to a government decree adopted in August 2024, the base rates of the environmental fee for 2026 for such packaging are set at 2,953 rubles per ton. However, now they are supposed to be raised to 32,054 rubles per ton.
The lowest discrepancy, by 5%, is observed at the environmental fee rate for rubber products. In other categories, the lag in current rates varies between 50-80%. For example, for metal, paper and cardboard it is 83%, for glass - 53%, for textiles - 77%, for plastic - 80%, for wood - 50%, and for batteries - 72%.
Impact on prices
According to the calculations of the Russian Environmental Operator (REO), an increase in environmental collection rates will have little effect on the prices of goods. According to the company's calculations, the total contribution of the eco-collection to the price increase across the entire consumer basket will be no more than 0.3%. The biggest impact is expected in the food segment. Here, the average price increase is projected at 0.54%. This is due to the fact that in certain categories the share of packaging in the cost of production is especially high. For example, prices for butter and fats, sugar, eggs, and baked goods may rise from 0.4% to 0.7%, depending on the packaging load and logistics.
In the non-food segment, the average price increase is estimated at 0.28%, but in some product groups it may be higher. For example, in the category of household appliances and electrical goods, the impact may be about 1.2%, in the segment of cleaning and detergents - about 1.1%.
According to Russian legislation, environmental collection rates must be economically reasonable, the REO's press service clarified. A separate instruction from the President of Russia has been sent for this, so the rates have been developed according to the methodology approved by the government at the end of 2023. When forming them, the average costs of collecting and storing, transporting, processing and disposing of tons of waste, including energy consumption and consumables, are taken into account.
"The priority of the state is the actual disposal, not the receipt of an eco-collection. Companies can recycle their waste from goods and packaging, creating capacities for specific types of products. In addition, the business has the right to conclude an appropriate contract with the utilizer. Environmental collection is the case when, for some reason, production cannot or does not want to comply with the disposal standards stipulated by law," the REO explained.
Thus, the increase in eco-collection rates stimulates the development of the waste recycling industry and will attract investments by financing new recycling facilities.
Purpose of financing
The funds from the environmental collection are primarily used to create a waste recycling infrastructure. In 2025, an additional 12 billion rubles have been allocated from the federal budget for these purposes at the expense of the eco-collection. This will make it possible to finance the construction of waste treatment and disposal facilities in regions with low budget provision.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has set a goal to achieve 100% treatment of municipal solid waste by 2030 and reduce landfill disposal by half, it is fixed in the national project "Environmental well-being". Today, over 55% of MSW is sent for processing, and burial has been reduced by 17.5%. Over 300 MSW management facilities have been built in the country.
Expert opinion
"The key idea of ROP is as follows: the system is designed so that it is more profitable for the manufacturer to recycle waste on their own, preventing their formation. The main task is not to replenish the budget, but to encourage producers to switch to a closed-loop economy," said Alexander Kogan, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Ecology, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection.
Russia has adopted the most thoughtful and effective extended producer responsibility system: it economically discourages the use of non-recyclable packaging and, again, economically encourages environmentally friendly alternatives. But any system works only if it is fully balanced, added Elena Vishnyakova, Deputy General Director of the Ecoline Group of companies.
According to her, the EPR system differentiates each package according to the complexity of its sorting and processing. Therefore, the environmental fee for non-recyclable packaging, taking into account the increasing coefficients, is very high, while for easily recyclable packaging it is low, and may decrease further if the packaging is made with recycled materials. And in the case of self-disposal, the environmental fee will not have to be paid at all.
"Bringing the environmental collection rates in line with the design values will complete the balancing of the system, which will eventually solve the key problems of recycling: lack of capacity, lack of technology and compensation for expensive logistics, which will allow the recyclers to receive the necessary raw materials. Obviously, this decision will cause an active discussion and resistance from manufacturers who do not want to switch to more environmentally friendly alternatives. I would just like these discussions to take place not in offices, but at landfills. It's easier to set priorities there," Vishnyakova stressed.
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