As Malta adopts the European-led packaging waste laws, CEOs from the various packaging recovery organisations operating internationally are meeting here later next week.
Across Europe such organisations are responsible for diverting millions of tonnes of discarded packaging away from landfills and towards recycling. In a recent report, the European Commission recognised the positive contribution that recycling of packaging waste has had on the environment. The Commission noted a reduction of 25 million tonnes of CO2 greenhouse gas emission and a resource savings of around 10 million tonnes of oil equivalent as a direct result of recycling of packaging waste compared to a scenario where all packaging waste was sent to landfill or incineration.
The ability to achieve such environmental performance is of particular interest to Malta. “Many difficulties have kept Malta from recovering packaging on a large scale” says Ing. Mario Schembri, CEO of GreenPak, the Mepa authorized Packaging Recovery Scheme. “It is therefore most opportune that we welcome the CEOs of the various schemes operating in Europe and North America to share with us their experiences. Many of these schemes have been operating successfully for many years and much can be learned from their acquired knowledge.”
GreenPak is part of Pro Europe (PACKAGING RECOVERY ORGANISATION EUROPE), the umbrella organisation for recycling schemes which use the “Green Dot” trademark as a financing symbol. As is GreenPak, these national recovery organisations have set themselves the task of relieving companies of their individual obligation to take back used packaging. The aim is to ensure the recovery of packaging waste in the most economically efficient and ecologically sound manner.
For the Malta meeting CEOs of the Green Dot schemes from Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Rep, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, The Netherlands, Turkey, UK and Ukraine will be attending.
“As more companies join the GreenPak scheme, large scale packaging recovery is no longer an option but very much a reality. Bringing over these high profile delegates from Pro Europe will surely help guide us towards achieving the ambitious recycling targets we’ve set ourselves for 2008” concluded Mr Schembri.