The Spanish government is aiming to be climate neutral by 2050. As a step towards this goal, it has announced plans to introduce a tax on single-use plastic (SUP) packaging for food products as well as an air traffic tax. The ministry of finance in Madrid has published the details on its homepage. It says these measures are in line with the current international debate on combatting climate change as well as the transition to sustainable energy and the implementation of environmentally friendly technologies. The taxes are also in accordance with European Commission recommendations.

While the amount of the new plastics tax is not yet set, the Spanish government expects it to decrease consumption of SUP packaging, thereby lowering the impact on both the environment and human health. According to industry reports, Spain’s plastics consumption in 2018 totalled around 5.2m t – see Plasteurope.com of 05.04.2019 – of which packaging made up 40%. Official figures for plastic packaging waste in 2017 are at 1.6m t, and this number is likely still fairly accurate due to the lack of developments in the past year.

Should the plastics tax be successful in lowering consumption of SUP products, the ministry of finance expects waste disposal costs to go down as well. The government is also counting on new business models and more sustainable production, and the SUP tax will be used to support reusable products – without “compromising the food safety or properties of products.”

Taxes for non-recyclable SUP products and packaging are currently being discussed at EU level. Italy has already implemented a plastics tax, and the UK has voted to introduce a tax on plastic packaging from 2022 – see Plasteurope.com of 19.02.2020, 23.01.2020 and 13.03.2020.