Denmark Proposes Green Tax on Packaging

Denmark's environmental protection agency has proposed setting taxes on packaging materials based on their environmental impacts, the first national government to do so. Based on a new life-cycle assessment, the agency said last month that relatively low taxes should apply to paper, cardboard, and glass, and much higher ones to aluminum, expanded polystyrene (Styrofoam), and polyvinyl chloride. The move comes in anticipation of a government proposal to revise Denmark's current packaging tax system. The current system, introduced last year, is weight-based. Tax rates per kilogram vary among materials, but in such a way that the rate for all materials averages about 3 cents per litre of goods delivered. Packaging covered by the new proposal includes wine, vinegar, edible oils, lubricants, pesticides, paints, milk, margarine, dog and cat foods, and food sauces.

From "The Gallon Environment Letter," October 30, 2000, E-mail cibe@web.net.

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