Over 30 Companies Ask Deputy Červený Not to Support Amendment to Packaging Law

A group of more than thirty Czech companies and industry organisations has sent an open letter to Deputy Červený asking him not to support a proposed amendment to the packaging law. The signatories fear that the changes would cement the dominant position of a single player in the packaging waste management market for years to come.

Business concerns

“Modernising the existing system makes sense, but we must be careful not to use the pretext of simplifying administration to set in stone, for years ahead, a model built around a single player,” said Radim Troyan, representative of the business platform Change for the Better. According to him, the key condition is that producers who fund the packaging management system should have real influence over how it operates, and that the system itself should lead to a genuine increase in recycling rates.

What the amendment changes

The Czech amendment to the packaging law is intended to bring national legislation into line with the new European PPWR regulation, which came into full force on 12 August. The regulation applies to all types of packaging and packaging waste regardless of material or origin, and introduces, among other things, mandatory packaging testing along with requirements for recyclability and labelling.

According to the amendment’s author, ANO party deputy Berenika Peštová, the main goal of the changes is to increase transparency in how funds collected for packaging are managed. The amendment also envisages lowering the mandatory financial reserve of an authorised packaging company from 50 to 25 percent — a move meant to free up tied-up funds and prevent fees for businesses from rising. In addition, the document introduces a strict separation between the packaging company and entrepreneurs working with waste.

The Change for the Better platform brings together companies and industry organisations advocating for a sustainable economic transformation. Another organisation mentioned in connection with the appeal is the Reuse Federation, which unites and supports reuse centres, furniture banks and charity shops whose main goal is to prevent waste by returning old but still usable items into circulation.

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Source: ekolist.cz