Prevention plan
Who does it apply to?
Companies that:
- place at least 300 tonnes of one-way packaging on the Belgian market
OR
- package goods in Belgium (or have them packaged) using a minimum of 100 tonnes of one-way packaging
The aim of the prevention plan is to make companies think systematically about how to prevent and reduce packaging waste.
What does the prevention plan entail?
If your company meets one of the above criteria, you must submit a prevention plan once every three years. This should summarise the preventive measures you will take to reduce the quantity of packaging that is harmful to the environment or to place less primary, secondary and tertiary packaging on the market. These measures can be qualitative or quantitative or promote re-use.
The evaluation of your prevention plan will take into account “limiting factors” and historical measures.
- Limiting factors are reasons why it is difficult to use less packaging. They can be legal, e.g. due to specific laws or standards, but they can also be economic, e.g. because you have already made other investments, or technical, e.g. related to safety, logistics or the production process.
- Historical measures are also factored in. This means that we take into account not only new measures, but also measures implemented in the past. Highly efficient historical measures can strongly influence future evaluations because of their significant impact on potential new measures.
How do I submit a prevention plan?
If you are required to submit a prevention plan, you will receive a letter by post inviting you to do so. However, this is simply to remind you of your obligation. If you do not receive such a letter, this does not in any way exempt you from your obligation to submit a prevention plan.
You then have two options: either you submit a prevention plan to the IRPC yourself via the online application, or you do so through your trade federation. Most companies submit a prevention plan through their trade federation, but this option is not always available because not all trade federations draw up a sectoral plan. It is therefore best to contact your trade federation to discuss this.
If you do not submit your packaging prevention plan by the specified deadline, you risk incurring an administrative fine.
