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Disposables for food 047

Disposables for food encompasses take-away packaging such as coffee mugs and pizza boxes, containers and paper for wrapped food, disposables such as mugs, glasses, plates, cutlery and straws, bags and films for packaging food such as bread bags, freezer bags, fruit and vegetables, coffee and tea filters, toothpicks, cocktail sticks and mixing sticks. There are strict requirements for raw materials and chemicals used in the production of Nordic Swan Ecolabelled disposables focusing on environmental and health aspects. Requirements help to promote increased recycling, reduce product environmental impact, contribute to reduced use of fossil raw materials and avoid biodiversity loss.

The requirements include:

  • A Nordic Swan Ecolabelled disposable for food must be produced with a high proportion of renewable material or recycled plastic.
  • Prohibition of fluorine compounds, phthalates, bisphenol A, flavours, perfumes and PVC.
  • Environmental and health properties of adhesives and dyes.
  • Marking with sorting symbol / text.
  • The wood products must be determined and certified.
  • Prohibition of recycled paper, paperboard and cardboard.

Below you will find all the necessary documents and background information to apply for the Nordic Swan Ecolabel.

    1. Start your application process by reading the criteria document and find out if your product can obtain the Nordic Swan Ecolabel. 
    2. Read your Application Guide.
    3. Request login credentials.
    4. Now you are ready to enter the Nordic Ecolabelling Portal.

     

    Portal sign in                               Get login credentials

     

    Should you wish to transfer your licence, please use this form. 

  • Fees valid from 1 January 2025

    Type of fee Amount
    Application fee including one on-site inspection within the Nordic region *) 3 348 EUR + VAT 
    Renewal fee* 1 673 EUR + VAT
    More than one inspection visit within the Nordic region** 557 EUR + VAT per visit
    Inspection visits in Europe** 1 673 EUR + VAT per visit
    Inspection visits outside Europe** 2 790 EUR + VAT per visit
    Extension of existing licence*** Extension of existing or changes in licence

    < 4 hours: 418 EUR + VAT
    < 8 hours: 836 EUR + VAT
    ≥ 8 hours: 1 673 EUR + VAT

    Annual licence fee: The annual licence fee for the Nordic Swan Ecolabelled products is based on their turnover in the Nordic countries.

    		 The fee is 0.3% of the products' turnover in the Nordic countries up to 30.9 million EUR.
    The fee is 0.05% of the products' turnover in the Nordic countries for the amount exceeding 30.9 million EUR.
    Minimum fee for Nordic region 2 232 EUR + VAT per year
    Maximum fee for Nordic region No maximum fee

    Fees for sale outside the Nordic region
    (Only if revenue > EUR 300 000 per year)

    		 2 232 EUR + VAT per year
     

    * When both the applicant and the manufacturer are micro-enterprises, the fee is reduced by 50%. A micro-enterprise is in this context defined as an enterprise with less than 10 employees and an annual turnover (of both ecolabelled and not ecolabelled products) below 2 million EUR.

    ** Where audits requires more than one day away from the office including travelling, Nordic Ecolabelling can invoice an additional fee of 1 115 EUR per extra day. Other extraordinary costs induced by the audit can also be invoiced the applicant.

    *** As for an extension of or amendments to a licence, time consumed in connection with the review process will be invoiced according to the extent of the required task. We make a distinction between entirely administrative tasks that last less than 1 hour, and all other tasks that last between 1 and 4 hours, between 4 and 8 hours and more than 8 hours.

    The recipient is liable for the VAT according to article 56 of the Council Directive 2006/112/EC.

    All information given on this site is subject to a disclaimer for errors and omissions

     

    Fees valid from 1 January 2024

    Type of fee Amount
    Application fee including one on-site inspection within the Nordic region *) 3 251 EUR + VAT 
    Renewal fee* 1 625 EUR + VAT
    More than one inspection visit within the Nordic region** 541 EUR + VAT per visit
    Inspection visits in Europe** 1 625 EUR + VAT per visit
    Inspection visits outside Europe** 2 709 EUR + VAT per visit
    Extension of existing licence*** Extension of existing or changes in licence

    < 4 hours: 406 EUR + VAT
    < 8 hours: 812 EUR + VAT
    ≥ 8 hours: 1 625 EUR + VAT

    Annual licence fee: The annual licence fee for the Nordic Swan Ecolabelled products is based on their turnover in the Nordic countries.

    		 0,3 % of the licence's annual turnover in the Nordic countries excl. VAT
    Minimum fee for Nordic region 2 167 EUR + VAT per year
    Maximum fee for Nordic region No maximum fee

    Fees for sale outside the Nordic region
    (Only if revenue > EUR 300,000 per year)

    		 2 167 EUR + VAT per year
     

    * When both the applicant and the manufacturer are micro-enterprises, the fee is reduced by 50%. A micro-enterprise is in this context defined as an enterprise with less than 10 employees and an annual turnover (of both ecolabelled and not ecolabelled products) below 2 million EUR.

    ** Where audits requires more than one day away from the office including travelling, Nordic Ecolabelling can invoice an additional fee of 1 083 EUR per extra day. Other extraordinary costs induced by the audit can also be invoiced the applicant.

    *** As for an extension of or amendments to a licence, time consumed in connection with the review process will be invoiced according to the extent of the required task. We make a distinction between entirely administrative tasks that last less than 1 hour, and all other tasks that last between 1 and 4 hours, between 4 and 8 hours and more than 8 hours.

    The recipient is liable for the VAT according to article 56 of the Council Directive 2006/112/EC.

    All information given on this site is subject to a disclaimer for errors and omissions

  • In the criteria document, you can read about how to document and verify compliance for each requirement. You can also find other application documents here.

  • APPLICABLE ONLY TO "BOARD FOR FOOD PACKAGING"

    When your customer applies for a Nordic Swan Ecolabel licence, they will need their suppliers' help in their application process. All types of board for food packaging in the product to be licenced have to be declared for.

    Suppliers wishing to declare their items, i.e. pulp and chemicals, can do so in the MSA Portal. You will be issued a personal account to ensure that all information is correct in a secure manner.

    But first, please visit the Pulp and Paper Declaration pages for more information.

    Declaring pulp, paper and chemicals

    • In order to declare your items, you must meet the Nordic Ecolabelling requirements. Study the following documents carefully:

    • By logging into the MSA Portal you confirm your acceptance of the User Agreement. Please read it carefully. 

    • Fees for inspecting pulp, paper and board

      Below you will find information about the fees for Nordic Ecolabelling to inspect pulp, paper and pulp.

      Fees for pulp and paper

      Fees for declaring chemicals for producing pulp, paper and board

      No fee. 
      However, in the agreement you undertake to comply with applicable conditions. If this is not complied with, Nordic Ecolabelling has the right to charge a fee.

    • To request login credentials, send an e-mail to paper@nordicecolabel.org containing the information below:

      • Company Name
      • Telephone (switchboard) 
      • Country (Nordic country you prefer to manage your application)
      • First name, last name
      • E-mail address
      • Direct phone number

  • Information on the latest version of the criteria for disposables for food

    4.8 ⇛ 4.9: Prolongation of the validity of the criteria

    The validity of the criteria has been prolonged with 12 months. The new version is called 4.9 and is valid until 31 December 2026.

    4.7 ⇛ 4.8: Prolongation of the validity of the criteria

    The validity of the criteria has been prolonged with 12 months. The new version is called 4.8 and is valid until 31 December 2025.

    4.6 ⇛ 4.7 Adjustment and prolongation of criteria

    Adjustments in requirement O30, where cups marked in accordance with EU Directive 2019/904 are exempted; in O5, an alternative requirement for low molecular weight organochlorine compunds in wet strength agents was introduced and finally a requirement for tree species with limited use in Nordic Ecolabelled products was uptadet in O6. The validity of the criteria has also been extended. The new version is called 4.7 and is valid until December 31, 2024. 

    4.5 ⇛ 4.6 Adjustment of criteria

    An adjustment in requirement O15 regarding exemption for BHT up to 2 ppm in water-repellent cardboard layers in disposable articles. The new version is called 4.6 and valid until June 30, 2023.

    4.4 ⇛ 4.5 Adjustment of criteria

    An adjustment in requirement O19 has been made. The new version is called 4.5 and is valid until 30 June 2023.

    4.3 ⇛ 4.4: Prolongation of the criteria and adjustment

    The criteria's validity has been prolonged with 12 months. At the same time, an adjustment of requirement O30 regarding recycling marking has been made. The new version, 4.4, is valid until 30 June 2023.

    4.2 ⇛ 4.3: Prolongation of the criteria

    The criteria's validity has been prolonged with 12 months. The new version, 4.3, is valid until 30 June 2022.

    4.1 ⇛ 4.2 Adjustment of criteria

    The definition of the product group has been changed not allowing disposables for food made of plastics anymore. At the same time an adjustment regarding D6 in requirement O18 has been made and a reference to the same requirement has been added in O15. The new version is called 4.2 and is valid until 30 June 2021.

    4.0 ⇛ 4.1 Adjustment of criteria

    Adjustment in requirement O19 Dyes used for paper / cardboard / carton and accompanying appendix 4c. In addition, the return system requirement was removed. The new version is 4.1 and is valid until 30 June 2021.

    4.0 New generation of criteria

    Version 4.0 for Nordic Ecolabelling's criteria for Disposables for food har been published.The criteria are valid until 30 Juni 2021.

    3.4 ⇛ 3.5: Prolongation of the criteria

    The criteria's validity has been prolonged with 6 months. The new version, 3.5, is valid until June 30th 2019.

    3.3 ⇛ 3.4: Adjustment and prolongation of the criteria

    • Recycling has been added as an alternative to composting for all product types in requirement O23. Requirement O24 was also updated according to this change.
    • The criteria's validity was prolonged with 18 months.

    The new version, 3.4, is valid until December 31st 2018.

    3.2 ⇛ 3.3: Adjustment of the criteria

    Requirement O14 regarding energy comsumption in polymer production has been updated. The new version, 3.3, is valid until June 30th 2017.

    3.1 ⇛ 3.2: Prolongation of the criteria

    The criteria's validity has been prolonged with 15 months. Also, requirement O36 Marketing was removed. The new version, 3.2, is valid until June 30th 2017.

    3.0 ⇛ 3.1: Adjustment of criteria

    An adjustment of the text in requirements R1 and R2 has been made. Minor changes have also been made to other regulations according to the adjustments in R1 and R2. The new version, 3.1, is valid until March 31st 2016.

  • In the background document below you will find reasoning and facts behind the specific requirements in the criteria document.

    Here you can also read the comments, requirement for requirement, from the public hearing.

    If the documents are in a Nordic language, you can get help in understanding the sections you need by contacting the product specialist in your chosen country below.

  • Look up inspected pulp and fluff and inspected board for food packaging for help with your Nordic Swan Ecolabel application.