Financing

To finance the tasks assigned to the Recycling Fund, a recycling fee is collected on each product before it goes on the market after its manufacture or importation.

The fee should pay the recovery cost on any waste remaining when the object's service life is over. As applicable in each case, the fee might cover the cost of handling sorted waste at a collection point, transporting the waste from a collection point to a central accumulation point or recovery point, and recovering or disposing of the waste and paying the fee.

Those paying are domestic manufacturers and importers bringing goods subject to the fee to Iceland. The obligation of paying extends to every producer and importer, including individuals, associations, funds and institutions, municipalities and their institutions, the State Treasury, state agencies, foreign contractors and any other entities importing or producing goods subject to the fee.

The amount of a recycling fee shall be based on Recycling Fund estimates as to the cost of processing the waste.

Products covered by the Act on Recycling Fees are classified into several categories, for example tyres, paint, car batteries, etc., with the recycling fee amount collected within each product category being solely intended to support the expense of handling the waste originating in that category. This method prevents the transfer of costs from one product category to another and thereby ensures that the recycling fee for each product category reflects as exactly as possible the cost due to that category.

Recycling fees for packaging waste are 3 ISK/kg for plastic packaging and 7 IKR/kg fibre-based packaging.