GreenPak, on behalf of the large number of small local businesses, has raised a number of issues with Mepa, which have in turn been submitted to the meeting of the EU Commission’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive’s Technical Adaptation Committee on Annex I of the Directive 64/62/EC in Brussels earlier this month.
The proposed changes – also supported at EU level by ProEurope, which operates national Green Dot schemes in 33 countries in Europe and beyond – seek to remove some of the new items included in the packaging and non-packaging list of proposed Annex I. These amendments will be legally-binding, if accepted by the European Council, and will have to be incorporated by all member states into national law by the end of 2011.
A consultation meeting with all the local companies that fall under the obligations of these packaging regulations was organised by GreenPak in collaboration the Energy and Environment Committee of the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Enterprise.
The meeting tackled current concerns related to the retail industry, in particular to small shops. On their behalf, GreenPak will be soliciting for the removal of the proposed changes to Annex 1, namely the non-packaging criteria which include wrapping paper (sold separately), paper baking cases (sold empty) and cake doilies (sold without a cake).
“With the EC revisions, retailers who are in the habit of gift-wrapping sold items would become directly responsible for recycling such paper. This would be an added obligation on small retailers and one that creates an unnecessary burden for them,” said GreenPak CEO Mario Schembri.
“We believe it is far easier to ensure compliance by ‘sellers’ of wrapping paper rather than their users who are mostly small retailers or sole shop owners. There are fewer sellers of wrapping paper than there are retailers using wrapping paper. So GreenPak believes this is a logical way forward: that the responsibility for recycling wrapping paper remains with the wholesalers. The same reasoning applies to the other items such as paper baking cases and cake doilies,” he said.
Directive 94/62/EC covers all packaging placed on the market in the community and all packaging waste, whether it is used or released at industrial, commercial, office, shop, service, household or any other level, regardless of the material used. The directive was formulated with the aim of harmonising national measures in order to prevent or reduce the impact of packaging and packaging waste on the environment and to ensure the functioning of the internal market.
Originally, the European Commission had planned to publish guidelines that would not have been legally binding. But this was subsequently revised. In order for these changes to be legally binding, member states are obliged to introduce them in their respective national legislation by not later than 31 December 2011.
Article 3.1 of Directive 94/62/EC defines “packaging” by setting out a number of criteria listed in Annex I. These constitute illustrative examples of their applications. Among the items that the EC will address as a priority are CD and video cases, flower pots, gas cylinders, tubes around which flexible material is wound, the release paper of self-adhesive labels and wrapping paper.
GreenPak operates the longest running waste recovery scheme in Malta and has operated without interruption since 2006. Today, it represents the largest membership base, with almost 400 members, and has grown into a cooperative under the banner of “legal compliance at the least possible cost”.
In October 2010, independent auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers completed compliance audits of GreenPak’s scheme for the years 2006 to 2009. These audits, based on Mepa’s testing requirements, confirmed that GreenPak’s operations were in accordance with the Mepa permit.
GreenPak forms part of ProEurope. As the sole licensor of the Green Dot Trade Mark in Malta, its members enjoy the benefit of using the internationally recognised Green Dot symbol on their packaging.