Ι. Household and Commercial/Industrial Packaging
- Household Packaging
Household packaging is the packaging which ends up in houses, offices and other consumer premises. - Commercial/Industrial Packaging
Commercial/Industrial Packaging is the packaging which stays in factories and companies’ warehouses and in the yards of commercial shops and other transporters.
ΙΙ. Single Use Packaging and Reusable Packaging
- Single use packaging:
Packaging which is not used for the same purpose after the use of the product but becomes waste after the product is used. - Reusable Packaging:
Packaging designed to meet a minimum number of trips or cycles during its lifetime for re-filling and reuse for the purpose for which it was originally meant.
The European instructions and the System set different obligations concerning the single use packaging and the reusable packaging.
For the System, the obligations of the businesses-members for each type of packaging are the following:
- Single use packaging is subject to information obligations, recovery and recycling.
- Reusable packaging is subject to information obligations, while the obligation for recovery and recycling affects only the new portion of the reusable packaging placed in the market each year.
New reusable packaging is placed in the market when the company which uses it increases its sales, or for the replacement of reusable packaging which has been destroyed or not returned to the Company.
Information for both types of packaging is annually provided to the system through a specific form – “Packaging Declaration” in which the packaging is either of single use or reusable is declared.
Therefore, the System and the competent authorities have to determine whether one packaging is reusable or not. Where the packaging is reused, the producer should be able to demonstrate a system in place which makes this reuse of the packaging possible and confirmed.