The Ministry of the Environment is pleased to see the initiative of packaging companies in establishing organisations that will arrange for collection and recovery of packaging waste throughout the country. Several major companies have already joined their forces for this purpose. So far, a number of organisations (non-profit associations) have been established for collection and recovery of packaging waste. Packaging companies will be able to transfer the obligation to collect packaging to the newly established organisations only after accreditation by the Minister of the Environment. One of the preconditions for accreditation is the ability of the organisation to arrange for the collection of packaging waste throughout the country, which is why the “critical mass” of packaging companies needs to join together in order to successfully launch the organisation. Pursuant to the Packaging Act, local governments have to impose the obligation of separate collection of packaging waste and the manner of collection. However, all costs arising from collection and subsequent handling of packaging waste should be borne by the producers. The need to establish packaging recovery organisations arises from the Packaging Act that entered into force on 1 June. According to this Act, packaging companies, i.e., traders, are required to recover packaging and packaging waste starting from 1 January 2005. Packaging should be recovered either directly at the point of purchase or in the immediate vicinity of the point of purchase. Since this kind of a solution is complicated mainly for traders, the Packaging Act provides an alternative to transfer the obligation of recovery to a relevant organisation dealing with the recovery of packaging waste. Estonia is the only EU Member State where there were so far no functioning recovery organisations of packaging companies and we have a long way to go before Estonia could meet the target indicators of the European Union Packaging directive. Successful functioning of the said recovery organisations is crucial for innovating the management of packaging waste. Further information: |
