The Confederation of Leviathan signed a common position on the risks arising from the creation of State maker work organisations in the field of ROP. The letter was addressed to the European Commission in the context of the work on the fresh Circular Economy Act – Circular Economy Actto be the next step towards the implementation of the circular economy in the EU.
– Organisations point out that the transition of organisations to act on behalf of producers from private to public hands can be contrary to the thought of extended maker responsibility. Moreover, specified a solution means higher costs, lower efficiency and real impact for producers who finance the strategy and are liable for the packaging placed on the market. – says Piotr Mazurek, expert of the Leviathan Confederation on GOZ.
The negative effects of the State ROP model have already been observed in any countries. Hungary and Croatia, which have chosen to centralise the strategy and take over the responsibilities of state actors, have not improved their recycling performance – on the contrary, their efficiency has decreased. According to Eurostat, in Hungary the recycling rate in 2022 was only 42.4%, while the EU average was 65.4%.
Threat for Poland – let us not repeat Hungarian and Croatian mistakes
In Poland the planned legislative changes are going in a akin direction. The assumptions of the ROP model presented by the Ministry of Climate and Environment, assumes that a competitive private marketplace for recovery organisations will be abandoned and replaced by a single central operator. This creates very serious risks for a strategy that should be transparent, effective and compatible with EU law.
According to the Confederate Leviathan and another organisations that have signed up to the European Commission, this solution is simply a serious threat to both the environment and the packaging marketplace and the availability of products, and can so lead to higher prices in stores.
– Not only Polish entrepreneurs, but besides our colleagues from another countries, inform against the introduction of a state model of ROP management. According to them , setting up 1 state organization as the operator of the full ROP strategy is simply a decision in the incorrect direction . Experience from another countries shows that this means greater administrative burden and little resources for real collection and recycling activities. This is simply a backward step that threatens both environmental goals and marketplace stability," adds Piotr Mazurek.
Confederation of Leviathan
