The government approved a draft amendment to the Waste Management Act

The government approved a draft law amending the Waste Management Act. The project aims to introduce the requirements of the legislative package "Waste" adopted at EU level in 2018, and in particular Directive (EU) 2018/851 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 amending Directive 2008/98 / EC on waste and Directive (EU) 2018/850 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 amending Directive 1999/31 / EC on the landfill of waste.

The amendment transposes major changes in European legislation that should be implemented by all Member States. The target for preparation for re-use and recycling of municipal waste is increased from 50% by 2020 to 65% in 2035 in order to reap significant environmental, economic and social benefits and accelerate the transition to a circular economy. Interim targets of 55% and 60% for 2025 and 2030, respectively, have been set. A target for reducing up to 10% of landfilled municipal waste by 2035 has been introduced, which can be postponed by 5 years, provided that the state achieved a reduction of up to 25% in the same year.

For the sake of comparability of results between Member States, the scope of possible methods for calculating the recycling target has been significantly narrowed. Precise rules are defined for the calculation of the targets based on the weight of the household waste that enters for recycling and the point of measurement of the performance of the recycling process is determined. A definition of an 'extended producer responsibility scheme' is also introduced, according to which producers undertake to take financial or financial and organizational responsibility for waste management as a stage of the product life cycle, including collection, sorting and treatment activities.

Due to the different efficiency and effectiveness of the Member States in the operation of the extended producer responsibility schemes introduced so far, minimum requirements have been set for their operation and they also apply to the extended producer responsibility schemes introduced under other legislation. , in particular Directives 2000/53 / EC, 2006/66 / EC and 2012/19 / EU of the European Parliament and of the Council, in addition to the requirements already laid down therein. Requirements are set for clearly defining the roles of individual stakeholders, cost-effectiveness, determining the contributions that producers pay, transparency requirements, as well as systems for reporting and effective control of the activities of the schemes.

The Waste Management Act is the normative act that regulates all the main commitments of municipalities, producers and operators of waste activities, as well as the requirements for separate collection and for achieving the goals of waste recycling. Respectively, these requirements impose the proposed changes with the draft AIA of the WMA.