Packaging recycling is fast becoming a critical issue for Malta in its attempt to implement the EU legislation on packaging waste. Packaging and packaging waste law in Malta was first introduced in 2004 as LN98/047.
This established producer responsibility as the way forward to manage packaging waste, such as bottles, food packaging, toiletries, transport and back-end-store packaging. Almost three years later, this law has just been amended to transpose the latest updates in the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive into Maltese law (LN277/2006).
This issue was the topic of a recent seminar organised by GreenPak Limited entitled "Implementation of the Packaging Waste Directive", addressed by a number of foreign and local speakers specialising in this field, who gave their views on the packaging waste legislation and on the situation in their country. The seminar was funded through the EU's TAIEX (Technical Assistance Information Exchange Unit) programme.
One of the key speakers was Mr Joachim Quoden, CEO of PRO Europe, an organisation founded in 1995 as an umbrella for packaging waste recovery and recycling schemes which mainly use the Green Dot trademark as a financing symbol.
The organisation has 31 member countries affiliated including GreenPak from Malta. Mr Quoden gave an overview about the implementation of the Packaging Directive and latest European developments. He said there are approximately 130,000 companies that are members of PRO Europe and more than 460 billion packaging items that have been labelled with the GreenDot™ mark.
Other speakers included Ms Christianne Papazahariou, adviser for Waste Legislation, EuroCommerce, the retail, wholesale and international trade representative to the EU. Established in 1993, the organisation represents over 100 commerce federations in 28 European countries, including Malta's GRTU. Ms Papazahariou gave a presentation on 'The retailer perspective on producer responsibility'.
Dr Helmut Schnurer, head of directorate on Waste Management at the German Federal Ministry, gave a presentation on producer responsibility. During 2006, Dr Schnurer has been head consultant on a twinning project between the Maltese and German governments to develop and implement the concept of producer responsibility in Malta. Dr Ian Stafrace from MEPA spoke about the practical developments in the recent update to the Packaging Waste Law (LN277/06). This legislation specifies the recovery and recycling targets for 'producers' for the years 2004-2013. Dr Stafrace explained that producers either have to recover and recycle their packaging waste themselves, or else they have the possibility to join an authorised compliance scheme, such as GreenPak.
Ms Liz Curmi, technical adviser at GreenPak, gave a summary of the work undertaken by the company during the past year. She explained the benefits of joining GreenPak, which included the eligibility of companies to receive eco-contribution refunds, that GreenPak recovers and recycles packaging waste on behalf of its members at the least possible cost, and also how its members can pass on all their responsibilities relating to the packaging waste legislation directly to GreenPak. Ms Curmi also explained how GreenPak operates.
Other distinguished speakers, who came from Cyprus, Sweden and Austria, presented information on how their countries have adopted the Green Dot system and implemented the Packaging Waste Directive.
Full details on the seminar, including copies of each presentation, can be obtained by visiting GreenPak's Website www.greenpak.com.mt or by calling Ms Curmi on 2180-3350.