As we reach the mid-year point of 2021, multiple EU member states have implemented amendments to their packaging waste regulations. Emma Trevor, Valpak’s International Account Manager, explores some of the key changes we have seen so far this year.
As of January 2021, it is now mandatory for producers obligated by the Swedish Ordinance on Producer Responsibility for Packaging to register with the Environmental Protection Agency and report their packaging volumes.
Compliance schemes are offering reporting to the Environmental Protection Agency as an additional service to their members, so it is important companies have appointed their scheme to complete the declarations.
The most recent amendment to the Czech Packaging Act saw an increase to the minimum turnover threshold from 4 million CZK to 25 million CZK. This means that in order to become obligated producers must have an annual turnover in excess of 25 million CZK or place more than 300kg of packaging onto the Czech market.
The new Slovenian decree on packaging and packaging waste handling entered into force on 24 April 2021 and brought with it the end to the 15-tonne minimum threshold. As a result, producers are now obligated as soon as they place a single packaged product onto the Slovenian market.
Another change introduced by the decree is that foreign distance sellers are now caught by the regulations and must appoint an authorised representative to comply.
Finally, from 2022 packaging placed onto the Slovenian must be clearly labelled with the materials from which it is made to help improve sorting, collection, and recycling.
After the announcement that foreign producers would no longer be able to report WEEE to Stichting OPEN on behalf of their Dutch distributors, this decision has now been reversed on the condition that these producers provide information on the Dutch resellers they are supplying to in order to avoid duplicate reporting.
The possibility for this method of reporting to remain in place past the end of 2021 is also being considered.
Finally, and while not due to a change in regulations, but rather as a result of the EU Exit, packaging producers based in the UK placing products onto the Portuguese market must now appoint an authorised representative in order to register with a compliance scheme and comply with legislation.
If your business is affected by environmental legislation overseas, we will remove the administrative and resource intensive burden of complying and have a range of services that can be tailored to suit your business’s needs.
To find out more about international environmental legislation and how we can help please call us on 03450 682 572 or complete our online enquiry form.