Danish packaging producer responsibility: what to report and how Shoporama covers it

On October 1, 2025, the Danish Packaging Producer Responsibility Act came into force. The law means that companies that put packaged goods on the Danish market must pay for the collection and recycling of the packaging themselves. For webshops, this is a whole new administrative task: you need to know exactly how many grams of cardboard, plastic, glass, metal and wood you send out all year round and report it to the authorities.

In Shoporama, the fields for environmental data are built in as standard. You fill in weights per material for each product, and when the year is over, you extract a CSV with totals for the entire period.

Why is it relevant now?

The Danish producer responsibility for packaging is part of the EU Waste Directive, and Denmark has set the reporting year 2025 as the first full year. This means that the first real reporting will take place in 2026 for sales in 2025. Many webshops are only now discovering the scope, and DPA-System has experienced a large influx of new registrants during the fall.

You can read more about the term in our dictionary under EPR and producer responsibility.

What does the law require?

EPR has three specific requirements for all webshops that fall under the rules:

• Registration with DPA-System. The DPA-System is the official authority that keeps the register of packaging producers in Denmark. You register as a producer and receive a registration number.
• Annual reporting. Once a year, you submit the total packaging volumes broken down by material: paper and cardboard, plastic, metal, glass, wood and a category for other materials. The quantity is reported in kilograms, but is typically calculated from grams per unit sold.
• Fee per kilo. You pay a fee to the collective scheme responsible for collection and recycling. The rate varies per material and plastic is typically more expensive than cardboard.

Who is covered?

The rules apply to all companies that either produce, import or sell packaged content to Danish end customers. This includes:

• Danish webshops regardless of size.
• Foreign webshops that sell to Denmark above a certain quantity limit. These must appoint an authorized representative in Denmark.
• Manufacturers and importers who deliver packaged goods further down the chain.

Even small online shops can be covered, and there is no general de minimis limit that exempts micro businesses. If in doubt, start by registering. It's free to sign up and you only pay a fee based on the quantity reported.

Which materials must be reported?

You need to report weight per material because the fee rate is different per fraction. The main categories are:

• Paper and cardboard. Typically shipping boxes, wrapping paper and product packaging.
• Plastic. Bags, bubble wrap, plastic film, filling material and plastic bottles.
• Metal. Cans, aluminum foil and metal clips.
• Glass. Bottles and glass packaging.
• Wood. Pallets and wooden crates when included with the product.
• Other materials. Composite materials and packaging that do not fit in the other categories.

How to do it in Shoporama

The entire flow is built into the admin and requires no external apps. The short version looks like this:

1. Enable environmental data per product. Go to edit a product and open the section Environment etc. This is where the fields for material-related weights are located along with other environmental information.
2. Fill in weights per material in grams. Enter how many grams of cardboard, plastic, metal, glass and wood each unit weighs in packaging. This is the average per unit sold, so if a box contains ten units, distribute the box weight per unit.
3. Export totals for a period. Under Orders there is Export environmental data. Select a period (typically a full calendar year) and Shoporama will sum the quantities from all orders in the period and give you a CSV with totals per material.
4. Or use the REST API. If you want to keep data synchronized with an external reporting system, you can retrieve and update environmental data via the product endpoint with the environment object. This is handy if multiple systems need to pull the same figures.

See the detailed guide in the article Environmental data on products for precise field descriptions.

A practical calculation example

Imagine a webshop with 1,000 orders in a year. Per order, you use an average of 50 grams of cardboard (the shipping box) and 5 grams of plastic (bubble wrap and a bag). That adds up to:

• Cardboard: 1,000 x 50 g = 50,000 g = 50 kg
• Plastic: 1,000 x 5 g = 5,000 g = 5 kg

These are the figures you report to DPA-System and multiplied by the fee per material. With 1,000 orders, the bill is manageable, but the more orders you have, the more important it becomes to have accurate figures and to avoid guessing.

Other producer responsibilities you need to know

Packaging isn't the only area with producer responsibility. If you sell electronics or batteries, there are parallel schemes with their own registration requirements:

• The WEEE Directive covers electrical and electronic equipment.
• The EU Battery Regulation 2023/1542 introduces new requirements for batteries and accumulators.

If you sell both packaged goods, electronics and batteries, you will probably need to register in three places. The fields in Shoporama are built so that the same product can contain all relevant environmental data.

Getting started

The most important thing is to start registering weights now, so you don't end up with six months of missing data when the report is due. Start with your best-selling products and then expand. Once the data is on the products, the rest is a matter of pulling the right report.

Read the practical guide in Environmental data on products and get started before the next reporting deadline.