Green Dot Malta has sought government permission to assume the legal responsibilities half way through the year of companies that are not members of its waste recovery scheme, GreenPak.

The waste recovery scheme operators said they made the request in the wake of enquiries they received following information that emerged in Parliament late last month.

Replying to a question tabled by Labour MP Leo Brincat, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said that while Green Dot Malta’s waste packaging scheme licence was regularly renewed by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority since 2006, Green MT, a waste recovery scheme owned by the Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises – GRTU, was not covered by such a licence be-tween January 1 and June 24 this year.

Green Dot Malta said the companies that made enquiries were mainly worried there appeared to be an ambiguity on the legal status of their waste recovery obligations and the subsequent granting of eco tax refunds and exemptions.

Green Dot Malta CEO Mario Schembri said: “In our letter to the Approving Body we are offering a practical and legitimate solution for two main reasons: we are offering peace of mind to non-GreenPak members while ensuring Malta’s waste packaging performance does not regress in 2010.”

The company is awaiting the Approving Body’s reply to its request. The Approving Body’s role is to determine which companies are entitled to be exempted from the payment of eco contributions.

Green Dot Malta is a member of PRO Europe, founded in 1995 as an umbrella organisation for the packaging waste recovery schemes using the Green Dot trademark.