Russia needs support to protect the extended producers responsibility
The solution, according to the ministry, is to centralize the system and introduce effective administrative control
Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment published on February 25, 2020 a concept paper, which propose to change the EPR legislation by closing existing collective producer's compliance schemes, individual compliance agreements; and keep the state regulated eco fee payment as the only way to achieve the legal compliance with the recycling obligations.
... The obliged industry – producers and importers of goods in packaging – do not agree with the new concept and propose that the compliance through the collective schemes should remain in the law, the criteria should be worked out for such schemes and effective control measures implemented across the total recycling value chain. The recycling targets should be increased gradually over the time. They say it is unfair and not acceptable to terminate the existing collective compliance schemes, which have made investments and achieved actual targets. Large international brands have already established PROs like SKO Elektronika-Utilizatsia in 2017 for WEEE (Samsung, Dell, Sony, Philips, LG and six other companies), RusPRO in 2018 for packaging (Nestle, Danone, Unilever, Coca-Cola, Tetrapak, Pepsico), and many others.
In the beginning of March the concept was updated– the obliged industry with "own recycling capacity", can implement self-compliance scheme and avoid the eco fee payment. Very few could use this option since producers typically don't own recycling plants unless they are recyclers.
In the middle of March Vice PM set up a working group (representatives from business and government) to revise the concept again. Within the government, there are ministries, which do not support the new concept and believe the collective compliance schemes should remain in the law as an alternative to the eco fee payment.
Originally, the Prime Minister was supposed to approve the concept paper by March 31, 2020. Because of the corona virus outbreak, the approval is postponed to Q4 2020...
In the beginning of March the concept was updated– the obliged industry with "own recycling capacity", can implement self-compliance scheme and avoid the eco fee payment. Very few could use this option since producers typically don't own recycling plants unless they are recyclers.
In the middle of March Vice PM set up a working group (representatives from business and government) to revise the concept again. Within the government, there are ministries, which do not support the new concept and believe the collective compliance schemes should remain in the law as an alternative to the eco fee payment.
Originally, the Prime Minister was supposed to approve the concept paper by March 31, 2020. Because of the corona virus outbreak, the approval is postponed to Q4 2020...