Mandatory Recycled Plastic Quotas in Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico: What Dominican Exporters Need to Know

A Regulatory Shift Already Underway

For years, incorporating recycled plastic was a voluntary decision, almost always driven by brand image or pressure from large clients. That is changing. Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico — three of the most important markets for Dominican exports — are turning that decision into a legal obligation, with specific dates, percentages, and penalties.

If you produce or export packaged goods, packaging materials, consumer products, or industrial inputs with a plastic component, these regulations affect you directly, even if your entire operation is based in the Dominican Republic.

What Each Country Requires and When

Brazil: Mandatory Recycled Content Starting in 2026

Brazil is moving toward requiring that plastic packaging placed on its market contain a minimum percentage of post-consumer recycled material. The figure being discussed in regulatory circles points to a threshold of around 22% incorporated recycled content. The legal framework is tied to the National Solid Waste Policy and its sectoral agreements, which oblige both local manufacturers and importers to meet these conditions in order to sell their products.

What matters for a Dominican exporter: if your product arrives in Brazil in plastic packaging that does not meet that percentage, your Brazilian client — importer or distributor — faces a compliance problem. In practice, that means they will ask you for documentation proving the recycled content, or they will look for another supplier who can provide it.

Colombia: 90% Recycled Content in PET Packaging

Colombia has one of the most ambitious targets in the region regarding PET — the plastic used in beverage bottles, oils, sauces, and many mass-market consumer products. Colombian regulations set a trajectory aimed at 90% recycled content in PET packaging. This does not happen overnight: there is a roadmap with increasing percentages year by year, but the direction is clear and the deadlines are defined.

For anyone exporting food products, beverages, or any goods packaged in PET to Colombia, ignoring this regulation means risking being locked out of the market in the short term.

Mexico: Extended Producer Responsibility

Mexico operates under an Extended Producer Responsibility scheme that obliges manufacturers and importers to take charge of the life cycle of the packaging they place on the market. Although the Mexican model does not set a single recycled content percentage in the same way as Brazil or Colombia, it does create financial and operational pressure to incorporate secondary material: companies that cannot demonstrate proper waste management face additional costs and market access barriers.

The practical result is similar: your clients or partners in Mexico need their suppliers — including Dominican ones — to be able to certify that the plastic component of their products has responsible traceability.

Why This Puts Pressure on Dominican Companies, Even Those Operating Locally

The logic is straightforward. When an importer in São Paulo, Bogotá, or Mexico City buys your product, they are the ones who must comply with local regulations. If they cannot demonstrate the recycled content of the packaging you send them, they have two options: require you to certify it, or switch to a supplier who already can.

This turns a foreign regulation into a concrete commercial requirement for your company. It is not theoretical or something for the future: it is the negotiation of your next export contract.

Furthermore, this is a trend that goes beyond these three countries. The European Union already requires recycled content in plastic packaging under the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, and several Central American countries are following the lead of their southern neighbors. A company that addresses this today is building a competitive advantage that becomes more valuable every year.

What Incorporating Secondary Raw Material Means in Practice

When we talk about meeting these quotas, we are talking about partially or fully replacing virgin plastic in your production process with recycled plastic that meets the appropriate technical specifications. This involves several practical considerations:

• Quality and consistency: The recycled plastic you incorporate must have stable mechanical and chemical properties so that your final product maintains its standards. Not all recycled materials available on the market have the same level of processing.
• Traceability and certification: Your client or the regulator in the destination country may ask you for documentation certifying the origin and percentage of recycled material. You need a supplier who can provide that chain of custody.
• Compatibility with your process: Depending on the type of plastic you use — PET, HDPE, PP, or others — and your manufacturing method, recycled material may require adjustments in temperature, cycle times, or formulation. It is worth evaluating this in advance and not under the pressure of an urgent order.
• Local availability: Importing secondary raw material from abroad can drive up costs and complicate logistics. Having a supplier in the Dominican Republic simplifies the supply chain and can make a significant difference in cost and response time.

Common Mistakes When Approaching This Change

Waiting for the client to ask: By the time the client asks, they are usually already evaluating alternatives. The company that arrived with a solution before it became urgent holds a much stronger position in the negotiation.

Confusing recycled with recyclable: These are different concepts. A recyclable product is one that can be recycled at the end of its useful life. A product with recycled content already incorporates material that has been recovered and reprocessed. The regulations in Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico require the latter.

Failing to document: Incorporating the material without documented traceability is almost the same as not incorporating it at all, because you will not be able to prove it to your client or to the regulator. From the outset, work with suppliers who issue material certification.

Assuming it only applies to large companies: The regulations do not distinguish by the size of the exporting company: they distinguish by product and destination market. If your product goes to those countries in plastic packaging, it applies to you.

How Scrapmen Recycling Group Can Help You

Scrapmen Recycling Group purchases, processes, and recovers value from post-industrial and post-consumer plastic waste in the Dominican Republic to reintroduce it as secondary raw material into the production chain. If your company needs to incorporate certified recycled plastic to meet the requirements of your clients or the markets you export to, Scrapmen can be your local supplier of that raw material.

Working with a Dominican supplier gives you access to locally processed material, with the documentation needed to certify recycled content, without depending on imports or long logistics chains. If you are evaluating how to adapt your process to comply with these regulations, the first step is to find out what materials are available, in what specifications, and in what volumes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do these regulations apply to my company if I produce in the Dominican Republic but export to those countries?

Yes. The regulations in Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico apply to the product entering their market, regardless of where it was manufactured. Your importer or distributor in those countries is the one who answers to the local regulator, and that is why they will pass the requirement on to you as a condition of purchase.

What is the difference between post-industrial and post-consumer recycled plastic?

Post-industrial recycled plastic comes from trimmings, offcuts, and scraps generated during the manufacturing process, before the product reaches the consumer. Post-consumer plastic comes from products that have already been used and discarded — such as bottles or containers — and were subsequently recovered and reprocessed. Some regulations, such as those requiring recycled content in packaging, specify that it must be post-consumer, so it is worth verifying the type of material you need before selecting your supplier.

How far in advance should I start evaluating this change in my process?

The sooner, the better. Adapting a production process to incorporate secondary material requires time for testing, adjustment, and documentation. If you also need to update contracts with clients or respond to supplier audits, having sufficient lead time puts you in a much more comfortable position than reacting under a deadline.