Efforts to help Malta recycle more packaging waste, improving on its low record were welcome, recovery scheme operator GreenPak said.

Its statement followed the recent launch of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority’s online registration.

Mepa are currently advising producers of packaging, electronic equipment, batteries and accumulators that the annual registration process has been launched online.

GreenPak has already informed its member companies that it had already registered GreenPak members with Mepa well before this deadline and therefore they did not need to register themselves.

GreenPak said that there were various obligations in respect of which producers registered with the scheme were exempted from in terms of the law as these were carried out by the scheme on their behalf.

Established in 2004, GreenPak operates a compliance scheme that recovers and recycles packaging waste in the Maltese Islands.

Apart from transferring legal responsibility for packaging recovery to GreenPak, signing up to the scheme provides companies with waste collection of packaging waste from warehouse at no extra cost, eligibility for exemption from the eco-contribution tax and ongoing expert advice.

As the pioneer of packaging waste recovery, GreenPak has successfully lobbied the government to apply an exemption from eco-contribution for those companies that were members of a Mepa-authorised packaging waste recycling scheme. This application came into force earlier this month.

Up till the end of last year, the GreenPak scheme had recovered 7,172 tons of packaging waste and diverted it away from going to landfill.

The GreenPak scheme is endorsed by the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry and the Malta Hotels and Restaurant Association (MHRA).

Last November, GreenPak Ltd changed its status to GreenPak Coop Society, to guarantee a not-for-profit operation.