A takeaway cup, a wet wipe and a cigarette filter all sit under the same EU rule, and not one of them is settled by your packaging report. Single-use plastics carry their own producer duty, with their own registers, their own item categories and their own bills.
This page compares the single-use plastics EPR software and services that name the stream on their own sites, and it says where each one stops.
Which products carry a single-use plastics duty
The rule is Directive (EU) 2019/904, adopted on 5 June 2019, and the part that costs you money is Part E of its annex.
Article 8 tells every EU country to run extended producer responsibility schemes for everything on that list.
Eight groups of product carry the duty:
- Food containers for food meant to be eaten straight away, on the spot or taken away.
- Packets and wrappers made of flexible material holding food meant to be eaten straight from the wrapper.
- Beverage containers up to three litres, caps and lids included, and composite beverage packaging.
- Cups for beverages, covers and lids included.
- Lightweight plastic carrier bags, as defined in the old packaging directive.
- Wet wipes and balloons, leaving out balloons sold only for industrial or professional use.
- Tobacco products with filters, and filters sold to be used with them.
- Fishing gear containing plastic, which Article 8(8) puts in a scheme of its own.
Partly plastic still counts
This is where most producers get caught out. A paper cup with a thin plastic lining is a single-use plastic product, so the cup you think of as a paper cup is on the list.
Same for a cardboard food box with a laminate layer, and a composite drinks carton.
The practical consequence is that you cannot answer this from your material mix alone. You need to know, per product, how much of it is plastic.
The banned items are a different list
Straws, cutlery, plates, stirrers, cotton bud sticks and anything made of expanded polystyrene sit in Part B, and Part B is a ban rather than a levy. Since 3 July 2021 you may not place them on the EU market at all, so there is nothing to report and no software to buy for them.
Mixing the two lists up is common, and it goes both ways. Some producers report banned items that should not exist, and others assume a cup is banned when it is only levied.
Three tiers of cost hide inside one annex
Part E is not one duty at a flat price. It splits into three sections, and the section an item lands in decides which costs you pick up.
Section I is the tier most producers meet, because it holds the cups, containers, wrappers, bottles and bags. It is also the most expensive kind of duty, because it includes the cost of collecting the waste out of public bins, not only the awareness campaigns and the litter picking.
Section II, wet wipes and balloons, leaves out the collection cost but adds the cost of gathering and reporting the data. Section III, tobacco filters, pays everything in Section II and picks up public collection on top, including new bins in litter hotspots.
None of this is priced by you. Each country sets the rates, which is where the software question actually starts.
Your bill is set by a national register not by Brussels
The directive tells countries to build schemes. It does not build one, so there is no single EU submission and no single fee. Countries had to have Article 8 schemes running by 31 December 2024, and by 5 January 2023 for tobacco filters and for any scheme that already existed before July 2018.
Germany's EPR system is the clearest worked example, and the one most tools have had to build for.
What Germany asks for
Germany runs its single-use plastics duty as a fund, the Einwegkunststofffondsgesetz, in force since 1 January 2024. It is separate from LUCID, the packaging register, so being licensed for packaging does nothing for it.
- Register in DIVID, the platform run by the federal environment agency. Anyone trading before 1 January 2024 had to be registered by 31 December 2024, and everyone since registers before they start. Missing it is an offence carrying fines of up to 100,000 euros.
- Report your masses by 15 May each year, for the year before, product category by product category.
- Pay a levy per kilogram of plastic, at a rate set for each category. The arithmetic works like any other EPR fee calculation, except the base is the plastic inside the item rather than the whole packaging weight.
Foreign sellers are in scope in their own right. A business with no German establishment that sells single-use plastic products into Germany by distance selling is a manufacturer under the German act, and the directive backs that up.
Article 8(7) says a producer selling Part E items into a country where it is not established shall appoint an authorised representative there. Not may. Shall.
The rates are wildly uneven
Germany's rates come from an ordinance of 11 October 2023, and they are worth reading before you decide how carefully you want to measure.
| Category | Levy per kilogram |
|---|---|
| Deposit beverage containers | 0.001 euro |
| Wet wipes | 0.061 euro |
| Food containers | 0.177 euro |
| Non-deposit beverage containers | 0.181 euro |
| Bags and film packaging | 0.876 euro |
| Beverage cups | 1.236 euro |
| Lightweight carrier bags | 3.801 euro |
| Balloons | 4.340 euro |
| Tobacco products with filters, and filters | 8.972 euro |
The gap between the cheapest and the dearest rate is about 147 times. That means the category a product is filed under matters more than almost any other number in the process, and a cup misfiled as a food container underpays by a factor of seven.
Germany also went further than the EU list. Fireworks with plastic parts join the German fund from 1 January 2027, which is a reminder that this stream keeps growing nationally even when Brussels is quiet.
How far each tool's single-use plastics reach goes
Reach is the first thing to sort out, because a tool that is excellent in Germany is no help in the eleven other countries you sell into. The rings below place each tool in the widest area its single-use plastics service actually covers.
Lorax EPI reaches furthest, and we are not the outer ring. Repax tracks single-use plastics across 31 European markets, which covers the EU plus the UK, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, and stops there.
If your obligations run into Asia or the Americas, the honest answer on this page is the enterprise platform, not us.
What we looked for in single-use plastics software
We only ranked tools whose own websites name single-use plastics. That sounds like a low bar. It removed most of the EPR software market.
- Does it name the stream rather than folding it silently into packaging.
- Does it hold plastic mass per product, since the levy is charged on kilograms of plastic in a category.
- Can it place an item in the right category, given the 147-fold spread between the cheapest and dearest rate.
- How many countries it covers for this stream specifically, not for EPR in general.
- Does it cover the authorised representative role, which a non-established seller cannot legally skip.
- Is the price knowable before a sales call.
The best single-use plastics EPR software ranked
Six tools cleared the naming test. They do genuinely different jobs, so the order below reflects how much of the single-use plastics problem each one takes on, starting with the product data everything else depends on.
1. Repax
Repax is a product-data platform that treats single-use plastics as its own reporting stream rather than a footnote to packaging.
You specify a product once, down to each component and its material and weight, and Repax generates the report each register asks for from that one specification.
For this stream that matters more than usual, because the German fund wants kilograms of plastic per category while the packaging register wants total material weights, and both numbers come out of the same component list.
Try Repax Core for free - no card required Describe your products once and Core builds the report each market and scheme expects. Try it freeCoverage is published rather than promised. Repax tracks single-use plastics obligations across 31 European markets, with 22 live today, and carries the German register as its own page with the 15 May deadline and the 2027 fireworks change already on it.
Fishing gear is handled as a separate stream, which few tools bother with.
Two products are live. Core is the data warehouse and reporting engine described above. Declare produces an EU Declaration of Conformity for packaging, which is the PPWR job sitting next door to this one. A third product, Comply, is not released yet and is on a waitlist, so nothing on this page depends on it.
Repax is also our own product, which is why it leads the list, though the reach figure above shows where a rival beats us.
- Best for producers who place several single-use plastic items across several European markets and want one dataset behind every filing.
- What it does for single-use plastics holds plastic mass per component, assigns items to the levy categories, and produces the per-market report and audit trail.
- Where its reach ends 31 European markets, and no further.
- Markets and streams Europe wide and multi-stream, including packaging, electronics, batteries, textiles, fishing gear and single-use plastics.
- Pricing public and listed per tier, with a free tier at 0 euro a month, Growth at 29 euro and Pro at 59 euro a month, and custom enterprise pricing, all excluding VAT as of July 2026.
- Watch-out Repax does not register you, does not act as your authorised representative and does not pay the levy for you. You keep the filing in your own hands, which is the point for some buyers and a dealbreaker for others.
If you have no legal entity in a market and need someone to carry the duty, pair it with a representative or read on.
2. Deutsche Recycling
Deutsche Recycling sells the one thing software cannot, which is a legal person in Germany who holds your single-use plastics obligation.
Their named service for this stream is authorised representation under the German fund act. They register you in DIVID, take over the manufacturer duties, handle the payments and check the levy assessments the environment agency sends back.
For a producer outside Germany that is not a convenience, it is the route the directive points at.
The trade-off is that you are buying a service rather than a system. Your product data still lives wherever it lived before, and the depth of what they do for this stream sits in Germany, alongside broader EPR, labelling, packaging, electronics, battery and textile work elsewhere.
- Best for producers with no German entity who need the German single-use plastics duty carried by someone else.
- What it does for single-use plastics acts as authorised representative under the German fund act, does the DIVID registration, the quantity report and the payments, and reviews the levy assessment.
- Where its reach ends the named single-use plastics service is Germany, with international representation offered on other streams.
- Markets and streams Germany first, plus international authorised representation across packaging, electronics, batteries and textiles.
- Pricing no public price, quote on request.
- Watch-out this is a compliance service, not a data platform, so classification and per-product plastic weights remain your job to produce.
3. ecosistant
ecosistant is a managed European compliance service that lists single-use plastics among the streams it will run for you.
Their premium service covers analysis, registration, evidence, quantity reports and ongoing monitoring, with the status of each registration visible in their own portal.
Single-use plastics appears in that stream list next to packaging, electronics, batteries, textiles and furniture, which puts them ahead of most tools their size.
One detail is worth knowing before you compare prices. Their cheaper self-service tier, the one with published per-country prices, lists packaging, electronics, batteries, textiles and furniture but not single-use plastics.
For this stream you are in the quoted premium service, so the 24.90 euro per country figure you may have seen does not apply here.
- Best for small and mid-sized online sellers who want registrations and reports handled across Europe without hiring for it.
- What it does for single-use plastics registers you, files the quantity reports and monitors deadlines as part of its managed service.
- Where its reach ends 30 countries, the EU 27 plus Norway, Switzerland and the UK.
- Markets and streams Europe wide, covering packaging, electronics, batteries, textiles, furniture, sports goods, toys and single-use plastics.
- Pricing self-service tiers are public from 24.90 euro per country a year, but single-use plastics sits in the premium service, which is quoted.
- Watch-out the published prices and the single-use plastics coverage are on different tiers, so ask for the premium quote before you budget.
4. Lorax EPI
Lorax EPI is the enterprise specialist, and the only tool here whose reach genuinely goes past Europe.
Single-use plastics shows up in their regulatory subscription, ENVI Lite, which tracks enacted single-use plastics restrictions and obligations alongside packaging law and deposit return systems, with monthly updates and unlimited internal users on one licence.
Their reporting platform is sold in two tiers, one where you submit and one where they submit into the scheme portals for you, and they also do the registrations with schemes, authorities and representatives.
The reason they sit at four rather than higher is a precise one. Their reporting product names packaging, electronics and batteries, and says it holds rules for schemes beyond those, but it does not name single-use plastics.
The stream is named in their intelligence product. That is a real capability, just not the same as a listed reporting feature.
- Best for multinationals that need one supplier across more than 200 schemes and want the option to hand submission over.
- What it does for single-use plastics tracks enacted single-use plastics obligations in its regulatory subscription, and does registrations and reporting across EPR schemes generally.
- Where its reach ends global, over 200 schemes by their own count.
- Markets and streams global, multi-stream, covering packaging, electronics, batteries and textiles.
- Pricing no public price, sales led.
- Watch-out single-use plastics is named in the subscription product rather than in the reporting product, so pin down in writing which schemes they will actually file for you. They also state they cannot support plastics tax registrations, since that is tax rather than EPR.
5. Ecosurety
Ecosurety is a UK compliance scheme that names single-use plastics in the international work it sells alongside its UK services.
Their international review starts by telling you which countries you are obligated in and under which laws, covering packaging and the PPWR, single-use plastics, batteries, electronics and textiles. From there they coordinate registrations per country, process and validate the data, and submit.
Their data operation is the deep part of the business, with over 220 validation checks between ingestion and calculation.
The catch is structural rather than a weakness. The UK sits outside the single-use plastics directive, so a UK-first scheme is selling this stream as an export service, and the natural fit is a UK producer discovering EU duties rather than an EU-only producer.
- Best for UK producers who have found single-use plastics obligations in EU markets and want one partner for both sides.
- What it does for single-use plastics identifies where you are obligated, coordinates the country registrations, validates the data and submits.
- Where its reach ends UK anchored, with international coverage arranged per country.
- Markets and streams UK packaging, plastic packaging tax and deposit return, plus international packaging, single-use plastics, batteries, electronics and textiles.
- Pricing international work is charged as a flat amount per country per year, with no figure published, and UK services are quoted.
- Watch-out there is no UK single-use plastics levy to run, so everything on this stream is work in other countries.
6. ForSURE
ForSURE is small-business EPR software that names single-use plastics, though it keeps it inside packaging rather than running it as its own stream.
Their own description of the product covers electronics, batteries, packaging with single-use plastics in brackets, and textiles.
The platform is built for exactly the buyer who cannot spend on compliance, with a free plan for sellers under 500,000 euro of annual revenue that ships reporting templates for Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.
Because single-use plastics is bracketed rather than broken out, treat it as packaging reporting that reaches into this stream rather than a dedicated capability, and check the countries you need before committing.
- Best for smaller sellers and importers who need affordable multi-stream reporting and start in the Benelux or Germany.
- What it does for single-use plastics includes it within its packaging EPR reporting rather than as a separate stream.
- Where its reach ends EU, with free-plan templates for Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.
- Markets and streams EU, covering electronics, batteries, packaging with single-use plastics, and textiles.
- Pricing a free plan under 500,000 euro of annual revenue, with paid plans quoted rather than published.
- Watch-out the single-use plastics claim is not backed by a dedicated stream page, so confirm which registers it files before you rely on it.
Match a tool to the items you place
The item mix in your catalogue changes the answer more than your company size does, because different items sit in different cost tiers and attract wildly different rates.
- Cups and food containers. You are in the most expensive tier and the fastest-moving category. You need per-product plastic mass and correct category assignment, so start with the data layer.
- Bottles with caps and lids. Your caps have been in scope for tethering since 3 July 2024 and your bottles carry recycled content targets, 25 per cent for PET since 2025 and 30 per cent for all in-scope bottles from 2030. Look for a tool that holds component-level data, not pack-level.
- Wet wipes and balloons. Your tier pays awareness, litter and the cost of data gathering, and your items also carry on-pack marking duties. Reporting volume is low, so a managed service is often cheaper than software.
- Tobacco filters. You pay in every cost category and face the highest levy rate anywhere on the German list. Accuracy is worth paying for.
- Fishing gear. You need a tool that treats it as its own scheme, which narrows the field sharply.
- No entity in the market. Reach and representation beat features. A tool that cannot act as your authorised representative leaves the hardest part undone, and if you are starting from nothing our guide to registering for EPR in Europe covers the order to do it in.
All six tools in one table
Here is the same comparison in one place, with reach and pricing side by side.
| Tool | What it does on single-use plastics | Reach | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Repax | Holds plastic mass per component and generates each register's report | 31 European markets | Public, free tier, from 29 euro a month |
| Deutsche Recycling | Acts as authorised representative and carries the German duty | Germany | Quoted |
| ecosistant | Registers and files for you as a managed service | 30 European countries | Premium tier quoted |
| Lorax EPI | Tracks enacted obligations, registers and can submit for you | Global, 200 plus schemes | Sales led |
| Ecosurety | Finds your obligations, coordinates registrations and submits | UK anchored, per country | Flat charge per country a year |
| ForSURE | Includes it inside packaging reporting | EU, Benelux and Germany templates | Free plan, then quoted |
Frequently asked questions about single-use plastics EPR software
The questions below come up most often when producers first find this stream on their obligations list.
What is single-use plastics EPR software?
It is software that works out which of your products fall under Directive (EU) 2019/904, how much plastic each one contains, and what you owe in each country that has a single-use plastics scheme. Some tools stop at producing the report. Others register you and file it.
Does packaging EPR software already cover single-use plastics?
Usually not, and that is the trap. A cup is packaging and a single-use plastic item at the same time, so it can appear in two separate filings that count it in two different ways.
Packaging registers want material weights. The German fund wants kilograms of plastic per item category. Only a tool that names this stream will do the second one.
Is there free single-use plastics EPR software?
Partly. Repax has a free tier at 0 euro a month covering 50 orders and 250 products a year, and ForSURE has a free plan for sellers under 500,000 euro of annual revenue. Neither free tier includes anyone filing on your behalf, and no register waives the levy itself.
Do I need an authorised representative for single-use plastics?
If you sell into an EU country where your business is not established, yes. Article 8(7) of the directive says you shall appoint an authorised representative in that country, which is stronger wording than the packaging rules use.
Deutsche Recycling and ecosistant sell that role. Software on its own does not.
How much is the single-use plastics levy in Germany?
It depends entirely on the category. Rates run from 0.001 euro per kilogram for deposit beverage containers up to 8.972 euro per kilogram for tobacco products with filters, set by an ordinance of 11 October 2023.
Beverage cups sit at 1.236 euro and food containers at 0.177 euro, so how an item is classified changes the bill dramatically.
When are single-use plastics reports due?
Deadlines are national. Germany takes the quantity report by 15 May each year for the previous year, through the DIVID platform, and settles the levy afterwards.
Other countries fold the duty into existing scheme calendars, which is why per-market deadline tracking matters more here than in packaging.
Which tool should I pick if I only sell in Germany?
Take the German fund seriously and decide whether you want the duty on your desk or off it.
If you have a German entity and want to keep control, a data platform such as Repax plus your own DIVID account is the cheaper route. If you have no German entity, an authorised representative is not optional, so start with Deutsche Recycling.
Most German sellers have a packaging duty running alongside this one, and our roundup of German EPR software covers the tools for that side.
