UNIFORMITY IN DIVERSITY - pro-e.org

1 UNIFORMITY IN DIVERSITYPRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY IN ACTIONThe good management of packaging waste in the European Union has been a key area of interest and policy since the 1980s. It is an area we have to take seriously if we really want to protect our of the key priorities of my mandate as European Commissioner for the Environment will be to promote more sustainable consumption and production, while at the same time reducing Europe s environmental footprint. Waste and recycling policy will be an integral part of this. We must find ways to avoid producing more waste than is absolutely necessary but we also need to apply best practices and new business models which recover value from the waste we can t avoid producing.

2 EU businesses are leaders in eco-innovation and I am looking to encour- age this further in the such as Green Dot make a significant and effective contribution to recycling and packaging waste management. PRO EUROPE is providing regional and local authorities, both of which play a major role in organising Europe s communities in waste management, with invaluable guidance and the chance to swap best practice. PRO EUROPE and its members are clearly contributing to ensuring that the EU s environmental objectives are met in the most appropriate way, in diverse regional circumstances, across Europe. Through effective action at local and regional level, they have helped turn EU policies and frameworks into tangible , the EU has a very comprehensive environmental acquis.

3 This has given us the means to ensure that waste is properly treated and that Europeans are less at risk from its potentially harmful impacts. However, legislation is of no use if it is not implemented effectively and effi-ciently. For this reason we are looking forward to the contribution of PRO EUROPE and its members to con-verting the EU into an even more committed and enthusiastic recycling enclosed brochure contains useful and interesting information on the activities of PRO EUROPE and EU packaging waste policies. I hope you enjoy reading it!Janez PotocnikMember of the European CommissionGREETINGJ anez Potocnik, Member of the European Commission Dear Reader,At a time when the global economic outlook is overshadowed by a deep and gloomy recession, the green economy sector represents a vital source of growth for by 20 years of successful implementation of producer responsibility schemes, including both the original Green Dot model and newly emerging approach-es, and increasingly widespread environmental aware-ness.

4 The European packaging and packaging waste recovery and recycling schemes are at the forefront of the green producer responsibility principle has become a fundamental pillar of effective environmental policy in our sector, and is now applied in 33 PRO EUROPE member countries: 26 Member States (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Ger-many, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom), two candidate countries (Turkey and Croatia), plus Serbia, Norway, Iceland, Ukraine and Canada; and increasingly around the brochure aims at giving you a fresh overview of how the producer responsibility schemes work in practice in each of the 33 PRO EUROPE member countries.

5 It takes a close look at the national systems tasks, targets and operational modes. Our objective is to share and dissem-inate best practice, stimulate debate and demonstrate how producer responsibility schemes make a substantial contribution to sustainable yet smart growth. Members of PRO EUROPE, the umbrella organisation under which the 33 national compliance schemes are run, have continuously worked on prevention through packaging optimisation and effective end-of-life manage-ment, hence reducing their overall waste management and carbon footprints. We will actively contribute to making the EU 2020 strategy flagship initiative on re-source efficiency a success, drawing upon the wealth of expertise and know-how of our members.

6 In 2009, PRO EUROPE members recycled or recovered about 32 mil-lion tonnes of packaging material. Looking at studies done by PRO EUROPE s members it can be concludedthat 25 million tonnes of CO2 were saved by those theme of the 5th International Congress which will take place in October 2010 in Brussels is a very con-crete example of this: Green Dot 2010: Green Economy in Action will be looking at how waste and resource management as well as enhanced implementation of the producer responsibility principle contribute to the shift towards a Green Economy, both from a political and business perspective.

7 We are proud to organise this year s Congress under the patronage of Mr Janez Potocnik, European Commissioner for the Environment and with the support of the Belgian Presidency of the , we would like to extend our thanks to everyone involved in the production of the updated version of this brochure and we hope you will find its contents of MeiresonnePresident of PRO EUROPEJ oachim QuodenManaging DirectorHenri Meiresonne, President of PRO EUROPE Joachim Quoden, Managing Director of PRO EUROPE Dear Reader,EDITORIal4 PRO EUROPE in DIVERSITY ..6 Austria Altstoff Recycling Austria AG ..14 Belgium asbl Fost Plus vzw.

8 16 Bulgaria ECOPACk Bulgaria AD ..18 Canada Green Dot North America ..20 Croatia Eko-Ozra ..22 Cyprus Green Dot (Cyprus) Public Co. Ltd ..24 Czech Republic EkO-kOM, ..26 Estonia Estonia Recovery Organisation ..28 Finland PYR Ltd ..30 France Eco-Emballages ..32 Germany Der Gr ne Punkt Duales System Deutschland GmbH ..34 Greece Hellenic Recovery Recycling Corporation ..36 Hungary kO-Pannon ..38 Iceland rvinnslusj ur Icelandic Recycling Fund ..40 Ireland Repak Limited ..42 Italy CONAI Consorzio Nazionale Imballaggi ..44 Latvia Latvijas Zalais punkts, JSC ..46 CONTENTS5 Lithuania Public Agency Zaliasis taskas.

9 48 Luxembourg VALORLUX ..50 Macedonia PAkOMAk DOO Skopje ..52 Malta GreenPak ..54 The Netherlands Nedvang ..56 Norway Gr nt Punkt Norge AS ..58 Poland Rekopol Organizacja Odzysku ..60 Portugal Sociedade Ponto Verde, ..62 Romania Eco-Rom Ambalaje SA ..64 Serbia Sekopak ..66 Slovakia ENVI-PAk ..68 Slovenia Slopak ..70 Spain Ecoembes Ecoembalajes Espa a, ..72 Sweden REPA (Reparegistret AB) ..74 Turkey EVkO ..76Uk Valpak Limited ..78 Ukraine UkrPEC .. 81 CONTACT .. 82 6 PRO EUROPE IN DIVERSITYWhen and why was PRO EUROPE founded?PRO EUROPE, the Brus-sels-based Packaging Recovery Organisation Eu-rope , was founded in 1995 by Duales System Deutschland (DSD) (Ger-many), Eco-Emballages (France), Fost Plus (Belgium) and ARA Altstoff Recycling (Austria).

10 PRO EUROPE is the umbrella organisation of 33 national producer re-sponsibility systems en-gaged in the selective col-lection and recycling of pack-aging waste. It provides a platform for best practice and information exchange and the ongoing develop-ment of packaging recovery in Europe and beyond. PRO EUROPE s European members were established as a direct response to the EU s 1994 Directive on Pack-aging and Packaging Waste. This directive requires Member States to ensure that systems open to the participation of economic operators are created for the collection and recovery of packaging waste.