Belgium is a small country with a disproportionately complex approach to packaging compliance. The Belgian EPR landscape involves multiple schemes that each cover different packaging contexts — Fost Plus for household packaging, Valipac for industrial and commercial packaging, and Bebat for batteries that happen to come packaged with your products. For e-commerce sellers, the primary obligation is Fost Plus, but understanding the full picture prevents surprises.
Belgium is also worth prioritizing: it sits at the centre of EU logistics networks, with Brussels serving as a major e-commerce distribution hub. Sellers using Belgian fulfillment centers, or shipping significant volumes to Belgian consumers through Amazon.be or bol.com, need to have their Belgian EPR compliance in order.
The Belgian EPR Framework
Fost Plus: household packaging
Fost Plus is the primary PRO for household packaging in Belgium. It was founded in 1994 and manages collection, sorting, and recycling of packaging waste from Belgian households. Fost Plus covers packaging that ends up with consumers — which means all e-commerce packaging (shipping cartons, product boxes, plastic mailers, void fill) falls under its remit.
Belgian law (the Cooperation Agreement of 4 November 2008 on the prevention and management of packaging waste, amended on 5 March 2020) requires companies placing household packaging on the Belgian market to either join Fost Plus or set up their own individual take-back system. In practice, every company joins Fost Plus. Compliance is overseen by the Interregional Packaging Commission (IVC/CIE, ivcie.be).
Valipac: industrial and commercial packaging
Valipac handles packaging used in industrial and commercial contexts — packaging that goes from a business to another business and is not discarded by a consumer. For e-commerce, this typically means pallets, pallet wrap, bulk shipping containers, and packaging used in B2B fulfillment operations.
If you operate a Belgian warehouse or fulfillment center, Valipac obligations may apply to your transport packaging. If you are a pure D2C seller shipping directly to Belgian consumers, your primary obligation is Fost Plus.
Bebat: batteries
Bebat is a separate scheme for used batteries. It is not strictly a packaging scheme, but if your products contain batteries or if you sell electronics that include batteries, you have Bebat registration obligations in addition to Fost Plus. This is outside the scope of this article but worth knowing if you sell battery-containing products.
Who Must Register with Fost Plus
The obligation applies to "responsible operators" — companies that place household packaging on the Belgian market for the first time. This includes:
- Companies manufacturing packaged goods in Belgium and selling them to Belgian consumers
- Companies importing packaged goods into Belgium (from within or outside the EU)
- Cross-border e-commerce sellers shipping directly to Belgian consumers from abroad
- Companies using service packaging in Belgium (retail bags, takeaway packaging)
Historically, Belgium applied a de minimis for small producers: companies placing less than 300 kg of household packaging on the Belgian market per year were exempt from the take-back obligation. Current guidance from the Interregional Packaging Commission (IVC/CIE) indicates that this 300 kg de minimis is being abolished, meaning the obligation applies from the first kilogram.
300 kg is approximately 750–1,500 corrugated shipping boxes, depending on box size and weight. Most active e-commerce sellers shipping to Belgium exceed that volume anyway — and with the de minimis being phased out, even smaller sellers should plan for Fost Plus membership.
How to Register with Fost Plus
Step 1: Calculate your volumes
Before registering, calculate your approximate annual Belgian packaging volume using your packaging BOMs and prior year order data. With the 300 kg de minimis being abolished, this no longer determines whether you must join — but you will need these figures for your declaration.
Step 2: Register on fostplus.be
Fost Plus's registration portal is at fostplus.be. You will create a company account and provide:
- Company legal name and registered address
- Belgian VAT number (BTW/TVA) if you have one; EU VAT number otherwise
- Belgian enterprise number (KBO/BCE) if applicable
- Legal representative details
- NACE code describing your business activity (47.91 for online retail)
- Estimated annual packaging volumes by material type and level
Step 3: Sign the membership agreement
Fost Plus will generate a participation agreement for signature. Once signed and processed, you receive your Fost Plus member number.
Timeline
Expect 2 to 3 weeks from application to receiving your member number. Fost Plus has a well-organized registration process compared to some other EU PROs.
What to Declare
Fost Plus declarations cover all household packaging by material category. The Belgian system uses the following categories:
- Paper and cardboard — corrugated boxes, folding cartons, paper bags, printed paper, tissue paper
- Plastic — rigid — rigid plastic trays, clamshells, bottles, pots
- Plastic — film / flexible — poly mailers, LDPE bags, bubble wrap, stretch film
- Glass — glass bottles, jars
- Metals — ferrous — steel tins, aerosol cans
- Metals — aluminium — aluminium trays, foil, lids
- Beverage cartons (liquid cartonboard) — Tetra Pak-style cartons
- Other / non-recyclable — composite materials, ceramics, and wood used as primary packaging, which fall into the top fee band
Note that the real Fost Plus scheme is more granular than this summary: plastics are differentiated by recyclability category — PET bottle colours, mono- versus multilayer rigids, PE versus PP and other films, compostables — and wood, composites, and ceramics sit in the top fee band. You will need to track these distinctions in your packaging BOMs.
Reporting Frequency and Deadlines
Fost Plus uses annual reporting for most companies. The key deadlines:
| Activity | Deadline |
|---|---|
| Annual declaration submission (via the MyFost portal) | February 28 (for prior calendar year) |
| Fee payment | Within 30 days of Fost Plus invoice |
Declarations are submitted through MyFost, Fost Plus's online member portal. Late filing carries a real cost: Fost Plus can charge a fine of 1% of your previous contribution per month of delay.
Fost Plus Fee Structure for 2026
Fost Plus fees are set annually and are differentiated by granular material and recyclability category — rather than a base rate with an eco-modulation range, each category has its own Green Dot rate. The official 2026 Green Dot rates (per kg, excluding VAT):
| Material | 2026 Green Dot rate (per kg) |
|---|---|
| Glass | €0.1052 |
| Paper and cardboard | €0.1503 |
| Steel | €0.1864 |
| Aluminium (≥50 µm) | €0.0491 |
| Aluminium (<50 µm) | €0.4513 |
| Beverage cartons | €0.8080 |
| PET bottles | €0.3604 (colourless) to €1.2568 (other) |
| Rigid plastics (other) | ~€0.80–1.19 depending on category |
| PE films | €1.0804 |
| PP and other films | €2.2095 |
| Non-recyclable / other (wood, composites, ceramics) | €4.4190 |
Recyclability directly determines which category — and therefore which rate — your packaging falls into: colourless PET bottles pay far less than coloured or opaque ones, PE films far less than PP or other films, and non-recyclable materials pay the top €4.419 rate. Designing packaging for the better categories meaningfully reduces your annual fee.
A worked example
You ship 2,000 orders per year to Belgium. Each order includes a corrugated cardboard box (250g), a plastic poly mailer (18g), and paper tissue (12g).
Annual totals: cardboard 524 kg, flexible plastic (PE film) 36 kg.
Fost Plus fees at 2026 rates: (524 × €0.1503) + (36 × €1.0804) = €78.76 + €38.89 = €117.65 per year.
Fost Plus also offers a dedicated per-parcel e-commerce declaration as an alternative to declaring material weights. For 2026, the rates are €0.0829 per small package, €0.2004 per medium package, and €0.2829 per large package (including a 10% surcharge).
Belgium vs. Neighboring Markets
| Aspect | Belgium (Fost Plus) | Netherlands (Verpact) | France (CITEO) |
|---|---|---|---|
| PRO | Fost Plus | Verpact (formerly Afvalfonds Verpakkingen) | CITEO |
| Small-producer threshold | None (300 kg de minimis being abolished) | 50,000 kg/yr | No weight threshold (simplified flat-rate declaration under 10,000 units/yr) |
| Reporting frequency | Annual | Annual | Annual |
| Annual deadline | February 28 | March 31 | End of February |
| Plastic (flexible) fee (approx.) | €1.0804/kg (PE films) | €1.320/kg | €0.35/kg |
| Cardboard fee (approx.) | €0.1503/kg | €0.017/kg | €0.085/kg |
With the 300 kg de minimis disappearing, even small sellers need Fost Plus membership — a much lower bar than the Netherlands' 50,000 kg threshold. On fees, Belgium's granular structure means your cost depends heavily on which categories your packaging falls into: PE films are priced in the same order as Dutch flexible-plastic rates, while PP and other films and non-recyclable materials are markedly more expensive.
Additional Considerations for Foreign Sellers
No Belgian entity required
Foreign companies can register directly with Fost Plus using their home country VAT number. You do not need a Belgian legal entity. The registration portal operates in Dutch, French, and to some extent English, making it more accessible than some other EU PRO portals.
Amazon.be and bol.com
Both Amazon.be and bol.com have EPR compliance requirements for their sellers. Amazon.be is rolling out the same EPR registration number requirement across all EU marketplaces. If you sell on Belgian marketplaces without a Fost Plus registration number, expect compliance flags as enforcement tightens under the PPWR framework from August 2026.
The bilingual complication
Belgian regulations are published in Dutch and French (and sometimes German). Correspondence from Fost Plus may arrive in either or both official languages depending on your registered address and communication preferences. This is administrative noise, not a compliance risk, but be aware that some forms may be in Dutch or French only.
Getting Started
The action list for Belgian EPR compliance:
- Calculate your annual Belgian packaging volume from order data and packaging BOMs
- Note that the historical 300 kg de minimis is being abolished — plan for Fost Plus membership from the first kilogram
- Register on fostplus.be
- Classify your packaging into Fost Plus material categories, including the granular plastic categories (PET bottles, rigids, PE films, PP and other films)
- Submit your annual declaration via MyFost by February 28
- Pay invoiced fees within 30 days
If you are working through Western European EPR registrations, Belgium sits naturally alongside the Netherlands and France as a cluster. All three use annual reporting and have broadly similar material categories. Getting all three set up in the same compliance sprint makes sense.
For a broader view of how EPR obligations scale across different markets, the EPR fees overview and the EPR compliance guide for e-commerce are useful starting points. If you are registering across multiple EU countries at once, the multi-country EPR strategy guide covers how to manage parallel registrations efficiently. Tools like Pack Declare can generate Fost Plus declaration data from your sales and packaging BOM information, removing the manual calculation step.