GreenPak Co-op operates the only authorised packaging waste recovery scheme in Malta in line with the Waste Management (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations and is the only entity which has a valid waste management permit in accordance with the law.

This was revealed last week at the cooperative's first AGM during which the first committee of management was elected. The elected members to serve on the first GreenPak Coop Management Committee are Norman Aquilina, Martin Borg, Gejtu Buttigieg, Andrew Cutugno, Pierre Fava, Victor Galea, Edward von Brockdorff and Denis Zammit Cutajar. Mario Schembri has been retained as CEO to operate the GreenPak scheme.

The co-op takes over this responsibility from Green Dot Malta Limited, operators of the GreenPak Scheme. Also present for this AGM was Joachim Quoden, CEO of PRO Europe, the umbrella organisation for 33 national packaging and packaging waste recovery and recycling schemes (including GreenPak) which mainly use the "Green Dot" trademark as a financing symbol.

All companies trading in Malta are obliged to recover the packaging waste generated by their business activity. Producers participating in GreenPak Co-op's scheme do not need to do this as waste will be recovered on their behalf through a nation-wide scheme. At present, only GreenPak Co-op's scheme members may be exempted from the obligations imposed on producers in terms of the Waste Management (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations.

"A cooperative is, by its very nature, a voluntary and democratic organisation in which each member has an equal say", said a GreenPak spokesman. "This structure adequately meets GreenPak's objectives to fulfill both social and business goals. Moreover, today we are in an even better position to achieve something equally important, a greater awareness of environmental issues and gradual improvement towards a more sustainable packaging recycling system in our country. Ultimately this is in everybody's interest."