Fost Plus and Belgian EPR: Packaging Compliance for Sellers in Belgium

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, Val-I-Pac 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 Interregional Packaging Agreement, most recently updated in 2022) 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.

Val-I-Pac: industrial and commercial packaging

Val-I-Pac 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, Val-I-Pac 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)

Belgium has a threshold below which simplified reporting applies, but the registration obligation itself applies regardless of volume. Broadly:

• Below 300 kg of household packaging per year: simplified registration and annual declaration through the REPROBEL notification platform, no Fost Plus contribution required
• Above 300 kg per year: full Fost Plus membership required, with contributions and regular declarations

300 kg is approximately 750–1,500 corrugated shipping boxes, depending on box size and weight. Most active e-commerce sellers shipping to Belgium will exceed this threshold.

How to Register with Fost Plus

Step 1: Determine your threshold

Before registering, calculate your approximate annual Belgian packaging volume using your packaging BOMs and prior year order data. This determines whether you go through the simplified track or full Fost Plus membership.

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 — composite materials, ceramics, wood used as primary packaging

Note that Belgium splits plastic into rigid and flexible categories, which some other EU markets do not. You will need to track these separately in your packaging BOMs.

Reporting Frequency and Deadlines

Fost Plus uses annual reporting for most companies. The key deadlines:

Large producers (typically companies placing more than 10,000 kg of household packaging on the Belgian market per year) must also submit an advance estimate in January for the current year. This is used for financial planning and interim invoicing.

Fost Plus Fee Structure for 2026

Fost Plus fees are set annually and vary by material type and recyclability. Belgium applies eco-modulation: packaging that meets recyclability criteria pays lower rates, while non-recyclable or hard-to-recycle packaging pays a premium.

The eco-modulation ranges above reflect the variation between packaging that meets Fost Plus's design for recyclability guidelines (lower rate) and packaging that does not (higher rate). Providing documentation of your packaging's recyclability can meaningfully reduce 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 36 kg.

Fost Plus fees at base rates: (524 × €0.090) + (36 × €0.280) = €47.16 + €10.08 = €57.24 per year.

Belgium vs. Neighboring Markets

Belgium has a notably low threshold for full PRO membership (300 kg), which means more companies are required to fully participate compared to the Netherlands. However, Belgium's overall fee structure is broadly comparable to France and less expensive than Germany for plastic.

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
• Determine whether you are above or below the 300 kg Fost Plus membership threshold
• Register on fostplus.be (or through the simplified notification track if below threshold)
• Classify your packaging into Fost Plus material categories, including the rigid/flexible plastic split
• Submit your annual declaration by April 30
• 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.