We noted from media leaks in recent days that Repak is considering increasing the fees charged by this not-for-profit monopoly to their members.
We are given to understand that a decision may be made at their September Board meeting that will see an increase of 7% applied from January 2026.
While REPAK has been around since 1997, it concentrated on obtaining compliance with Irish and European packaging legislation from the importers, manufacturers and distributors of products that used different materials for packaging. These materials are quite diverse and include paper, plastic, glass, metals and wood. As the purpose of the legislation is to ensure these materials are recycled these businesses are considered to have a producer responsibility and are levied a tonnage rate for the packaging they place on the market.
Things went South when these businesses lobbied to include their customers, the retailers, into having an obligation, and therefore an obligation to pay into this monopoly. This is something which CSNA can never accept as reasonable. Retailers respond to demand- manufacturers can take actions to reduce packaging, consumers can choose not to buy something if they consider the packaging to be excessive or unnecessary, but we cannot, under any circumstances, alter, change or remove any of the packaging that contains the product.
Over the years CSNA has engaged, robustly and fairly with REPAK, the Department and the Environmental Protection Agency to overturn some of the outrageous liberties that were being visited upon many retailers in the convenience sector. We developed a unique calculator that was used by our office to show conclusively the weight of the various products sold in our stores by inputting the value of the sales. Our certification was accepted by the Local Authorities as evidence that a particular store did or did not have an obligation and REPAK not only had to cease collecting from these shops, they were also obliged to refund all monies that they had improperly collected!
One of the misconceptions many retailers have about the waste packaging captured in the legislation is the erroneous belief that the secondary packaging, or pallets are included in tonnage- they are not- the only products that matter are the boxes, bottles, cans and packaging containing the items you sell- the box of Corn Flakes ( and the plastic pack holding the flakes), the cardboard pack of cigarettes, the plastic pack that holds the bacon. These are products that go out your front door- all of the packs that remain on site and are collected, compacted or returned DO NOT Qualify.
At the moment, REPAK charges fees (SEE INSERT) based on a de minimus principle. Your store MUST have a minimum turnover of €1,000,000 (ex VAT) AND sells packaging exceeding 10 tonnes per annum. The turnover figure ONLY relates to those products that have packaging- there are a considerable number of whole Departments and products you sell that are NOT part of the turnover for the purpose of identifying your obligations. It is very likely that you may have an obligation, but that it resides in the 10-25 Tonne Band, but you have been incorrectly assessed as having a 25 Tonne+ annual packaging. If this is the case, REPAK has devised more than 15 different turnover Bands, each one with a different Scheduled Fee obligation.
We remind you that it is fundamentally bad practice that there is still, 20 years later, only one company in Ireland, and although there have been many changes in the Corporate Structure and Governance, it is still a monopoly.
The independent retailer sector and the Off-licence Sector are the only two Sectors where there are 15+ Bands of turnover used by REPAK to determine fees- the other Scheduled businesses that interface with the end user all only have two Bands, 10-25 Tonne and 25+ Tonne.
We will once again remind you that although turnover excludes VAT, it does not exclude any Customs and Excise Duties or Ad Valorem taxes that make up an extremely high proportion of two of the obligated products, alcohol and tobacco.
We will seek a meeting with the CEO of REPAK and the members representatives on the Board to put our case for a realignment of the Fees, an end to discriminating between different styles of retailers and, of course a new understanding to remove those in-scope DRS products that must be excluded from turnover figures. It would also no be fair to consider any increase in fees.
