Article 5 · Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/1425

Contents

Article 5Obligation to collect data from economic operators who place PET bottles on the market#

1.Member States shall collect data from economic operators that place PET bottles on their market, on the weight of plastic and recycled plastic contained in those bottles, and shall add up the results separately for plastic and for recycled plastic.

2.Member States shall ensure that economic operators calculate the weight of the recycled plastic referred to in paragraph 1 for the different parts of the PET bottles and add up the results, using the methodology set out in the second subparagraph.Where no other plastic waste than post-consumer plastic waste is used as input and all recycled plastic is obtained through the application of one of the following recycling technologies

(a)mechanical recycling that is listed as a suitable recycling technology pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2022/1616;

(b)any other recycling technology that is a suitable recycling technology or a novel technology pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2022/1616, for which the proportion of eligible material in the output is known,

the percentage of recycled plastic, as stated in the declaration pursuant to Annex V Part C that is accompanying the declaration of compliance set out in Annex III to Regulation (EU) 2022/1616, shall be multiplied by the weight of the respective bottle part.

3.Where the methodology set out in paragraph 2 of this Article is not applicable, the methodology laid down in Article 6 shall be used.

4.For recycled plastic referred to in paragraph 1 that is partly obtained through the application of any of the recycling technologies set out in paragraph 2, points (a) and (b), and partly by other recycling methods, Member States shall ensure that economic operators established on their territory apply the methodology laid down in Article 6 at each stage of the supply chain starting from the stage at which the mixing of recycling methods occurs. Before the mixing occurs, the methodology laid down in paragraphs 2 and 3 shall apply, respectively.

Defined terms · 18

Show every defined term

attributed amount
means the weight of eligible material that enters a process and that is allocated to the outputs of the process for a given period;
batch
means batch as defined in Article 2(3), point (20), of Regulation (EU) 2022/1616;
beverage bottle
means a single-use plastic beverage bottle with a capacity of up to three litres, including its cap, lid, label and sleeve, if any, but excluding the following bottles:
calculation point
means a point in the supply chain at which the content of eligible material for a given material is determined;
economic operator
means any of the following operators, that are part of the supply chain leading to the placing of beverage bottles on the market or that place beverage bottles on the market:
eligible material
means post-consumer plastic waste and material stemming from post-consumer plastic waste;
facility
means one or more manufacturing plants at the same site, under the management control of the same economic operator, where activities, products and services are managed, including all associated infrastructure, equipment and materials;
mass balance accounting
means a set of calculation rules used to determine the attributed amount throughout a supply chain and in the outputs, where the eligible material is used together with other material as input into the process;
maximum acceptable boiling point
means, in a case where the eligible material or parts thereof will be fed into one single steam cracker, the maximum acceptable boiling point of that steam cracker or, in a case where the eligible material or parts thereof will be processed by different steam crackers, the weighted average of the maximum acceptable boiling points of all the individual steam crackers.
mechanical recycling
means a recycling technology that recovers collected plastic waste through mechanical and physical processes, including by sorting, grinding, washing, separating materials, drying, extruding and re-crystallisation to produce plastic without changing the chemical structure of the plastic waste input;
output category
means a grouping of outputs into any of the following categories:
post-consumer plastic waste
means waste that has been generated from plastic products that have been:
recycled plastic
means plastic which was post-consumer plastic waste before recycling, and which has been produced by recycling (including sorting), as defined in Article 3, point (17), of Directive 2008/98/EC, in the Union.
recycling pathway
means a process, including its different steps, which preserves the potential of eligible material being processed into a non-fuel;
recycling technology
means recycling technology as defined in Article 2(3), point (1), of Regulation (EU) 2022/1616;
supply chain
means the series of processes or activities involved in the production and distribution of beverage bottles;
verification
means the process by which a verifier attests that an economic operator meets the requirements regarding calculation of data on to the recycled content of beverage bottles;
verifier
means a conformity assessment body as defined in Article 2, point (13), of Regulation (EC) 765/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council, which is accredited in accordance with that Regulation;