A recycling fee not a registration
Iceland runs producer responsibility as a fee, not a form. Úrvinnslusjóður is the Icelandic EPR producer register, the state Recycling Fund, and producers pay a recycling fee on listed products that funds collection and treatment.
The fee is collected at import through Customs and domestically through the Tax Authority. Electronics are the exception that also needs a separate registration, with the Environment and Energy Agency.
What Úrvinnslusjóður covers
- Packaging: plastic and paper since 2005, all types since 2023, and every producer regardless of turnover from 2024.
- Electronics: register with the Environment and Energy Agency at least 15 days before market entry.
- Batteries: current scheme under a 2011 regulation, with the EU Battery Regulation under EEA review.
- Vehicles: a fee at first registration funds take-back.
- Tyres, waste oils, single-use plastics and fishing gear: all carry recycling fees, with single-use-plastic litter duties from 2023.
Who must register
Producers and importers that first place a fee-liable product on the Icelandic market, distance sellers included.
How the fee and registration work
- Identify which fee categories your products fall under.
- For electronics, register with the Environment and Energy Agency at least 15 days ahead. Foreign producers can act through a representative (see below).
- Report and pay the recycling fee through Customs on import, or the Tax Authority domestically.
- Meet stream-specific reporting, including annual market data for fishing gear.
Registering from abroad
For electronics, a foreign producer with no presence in Iceland may appoint an Icelandic authorised representative in writing under the WEEE regulation. The Environment and Energy Agency's guidance treats it as a requirement for EEA distance sellers selling direct to Icelandic buyers.
Packaging and batteries have no representative route. Their fee is carried by the Icelandic importer at customs.
Icelandic terms you will meet
- Úrvinnslusjóður: the Icelandic Recycling Fund.
- Úrvinnslugjald: the recycling fee.
- Umhverfis- og orkustofnun: the Environment and Energy Agency, which holds the electronics register.
Frequently asked questions about Úrvinnslusjóður
Short answers to what producers ask most.
How does Iceland's system work?
As a fee. Producers and importers pay a recycling fee on listed products, collected at import by Customs and domestically by the Tax Authority, which the Recycling Fund uses for collection and treatment.
Do I register or just pay?
For most streams you pay the fee. Electronics also need a separate registration with the Environment and Energy Agency, at least 15 days before market entry.
Who must pay the fee?
Any producer or importer, including distance sellers, that first places a fee-liable product on the Icelandic market. From 2024 packaging applies regardless of turnover.
Do foreign producers need a representative?
Only for electronics, and even there the regulation makes it optional, though the Environment and Energy Agency requires one for EEA distance sellers selling direct. Packaging and batteries have no representative route.