I don't know if this EU regulation will work or not (most likely not), but I can share how it is done in China (where package volume is orders of magnitude higher).

China identifies "choke points" most packages pass: large platforms and logistics companies. Yes, Chinese e-commerce is more centralized on Alibaba/JD/PDD etc, but there are actually much more logistics companies in China than in EU.

They also do not introduce these regulations "from tomorrow" (well, sometimes they do, but it's a different topic). E.g. the non-degradable plastic regulation was issued in 2020 to come in effect in 2025. This gives time to prepare and implement (unlike EU border controls mess...)

So now if something is shipped in non-degradable plastic, the logistics company is fined along with the sender. This is much more scalable and easy to implement. Logistics companies might rise their prices a bit in light of expanded work scope, but it would be peanuts compared to every individual seller.

Could EU just ask DHL/Hermes/whatever to charge an additional €1 "for recycling"? Yes, but...

But of course EU is fundamentally different in a way that the politicians need to please the electorate, so nothing is really planned ahead.

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fallingbananna 30 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

>Could EU just ask DHL/Hermes/whatever to charge an additional €1 "for recycling"? Yes, but...

Within EU we already pay ~€3 for packages from China. And in Austria we will soon pay additional ~€2 for every delivered package. And 20% VAT.

Edit:

I am pretty sure at least some part of these already contribute towards recycling.

The goal here is likely not just to get more funding for recycling, but rather to use materials that can be recycled in the first place. Which you cannot achieve simply by charging businesses or consumers more.

	▲	deno 24 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		This has nothing to do with EPR. The €3 for packages from China is a fixed processing fee on top of potential tariffs. They got rid of the de minimis €150 limit for tariffs and added fees on top. There was also €25 VAT de minimis limit but that’s also no longer the case since some time.

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mns 42 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> They also do not introduce these regulations "from tomorrow"

This wasn't introduced "from tomorrow", people had 1 year and a half to prepare for this (at least) or to protest this. See some comments below how individual countries actually messed this up.

> But of course EU is fundamentally different in a way that the politicians need to please the electorate, so nothing is really planned ahead.

> I don't know if this EU regulation will work or not (most likely not)

It's good that you take the time to just make assumptions about how the EU is bad based on your knowledge on how it operates...

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formerly_proven 34 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

It's yet another EU regulation that requires a rep for each EU country or you're not allowed to do business. EU single market is a bad joke at this point.

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akie 26 minutes ago | parent [-]

People here REALLY love to complain about the EU.

Do you understand what the EU even is?

Imagine trying to create a single set of laws to apply to all of the countries in North and South America at the same time. Just try to imagine it, because that's about as close an analogy as you're going to get. Now re-evaluate your criticism in that light, and understand that comparing a single state to a collection of 27 states is more or less a non-sequitur.

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ericmay 11 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

> Imagine trying to create a single set of laws to apply to all of the countries in North and South America at the same time.

I actually think it would be quite a bit easier than it is to create the EU. There's a lot more broad cultural homogeneity between the countries in the Americas than there is within Europe. Even on the topic of language you've got the vast majority of all peoples speaking some combination of Spanish, English, and Portuguese. And Latin America has a bit more limited geopolitical concerns than Europe does which makes managing some tensions easier than it might otherwise be.

But I'm not sure why you are considering "it's hard to create the EU" to be a defense against complaints or criticism related to the EU itself. Maybe it's hard and it won't work and the criticism is reflecting that and others are pointing out that it's a flawed task to begin with for some number of reasons. For my own part I think it has been a fascinating topic and a remarkable accomplishment of statesmanship to even get the EU to this stage, albeit like anything there are some very valid drawbacks.

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r3trohack3r 18 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

America does it with 50 states

	▲	bryanlarsen 14 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		That analogy would hold only if inter-state commerce was the responsibility of the states rather than the federal government.
	▲	deno 6 minutes ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		And EU does it with VAT-OSS which was also separate in each country before. There's just no will to do this with EPR because there's too much money and lobbying power in the recycling cartel.

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deno 4 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I mean that's what the PPWR directive is already? It's a single set of laws that applies to all member states. They just didn't write any interop.

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marky1991 17 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

Yeah, obviously we wouldn't try to do that. Our laws, cultures, and priorities are wildly different. By this lens, the main problem seems to be that the eu expanded too much and grew too large to actually have a coherent purpose.

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janderson215 32 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed.

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gpjanik 31 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

"people had 1 year to protest this" this is terminal stage subjugation to bureaucrats

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pjc50 an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Per downthread, this whole crisis arises because of Chinese companies shipping to Europe. The EU Directives are definitely visible in advance, none of this is dropped on people.

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mstaoru 42 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

I think this directive was from Feb 2025? Is 1 year enough for everyone to register in 25 different packaging regulation bodies, appoint representatives, etc etc?..

I also fail to see how this will stop Chinese companies from shipping to Europe. No Chinese company will register in this farce.

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philipallstar 32 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

> Is 1 year enough for everyone to register in 25 different packaging regulation bodies, appoint representatives, etc etc?..

Also, are those bodies ready for the volume of applicants? They certainly weren't when MDR came in.

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hvb2 36 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

> No Chinese company will register in this farce.

What makes you so sure? It really depends on enforcement but your Chinese company sure isn't going to just drop Europe as a market.

	▲	mstaoru 33 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Exactly. I don't see how EU can enforce it against China, when most of the goods are imported from China. Or any other non-EU country, for that matter.

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mistrial9 an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

> this whole crisis arises because of

hmm that is not systems thinking there.. there are more layers than that!

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radicalbyte 44 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Erm I've been talking about this for 4 years now. So I'm not sure how it can "come out of nowhere" unless you're paying 0 attention to really important regulation in your field.

There will be a post in 9 months from software companies crying about the PLD and CRA because their leaders were asleep at the wheel for the last half decade.

	▲	ihateolives 20 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		"in your field"? All small businesses and solo enterpreneurs that I know who are hit by this are not "in this field". Their field is making jewelry or knitted toys or something similar. Now many are just not planning to ship EU wide just because it's too high risk for them.

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quijoteuniv 37 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

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