Dear Clients,

DRAFT amendments were published for public comment to the following laws under the Waste Act:

  • Regulations regarding Extended Producer Responsibility (GN R 1184 of 2020), and Notices in respect of the:
  • Extended Producer Responsibility Scheme for the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Sector (GN R 1185 of 2020)
  • Lighting Sector (GN R 1186 of 2020)
  • Paper, Packaging and Some Single Use Products (GN R 1187 of 2020).

The proposed changes can be summarised as follows:

  • The definition of “Producer’ now provides for customised definitions for the specific Notices to provide clarity;
  • The requirements for the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) have been prescribed in the Regulations to provide clarity;
  • The transformation requirements have been clarified and clearly indicate the roles of the relevant stakeholders;
  • The obligations of a product responsibility organisation and the producer have been separated to avoid the conflation of roles and responsibilities;
  • The costs associated with the calculation of the extended producer responsibility fee have been prescribed to prevent any uncertainty or ambiguity;
  • The requirement to include the extended producer responsibility fee as a separate line item on each invoice or cash sale receipt was removed and the provision was amended to provide for the extended responsibility fee to be displayed on the website of the producer responsibility organisation or producer;
  • The items that must be included in the determination of the administration cost for the producer responsibility organisation have been prescribed, as well as the percentage administration cost;
  • The Lighting Notice and Electrical and Electronic Equipment Notice have been amended by listing the identified products that must have a mandatory take back scheme;
  • The Paper, Packaging and Some Single Use Products Notice has been amended as follows:

o The definition of Producer has been amended for the Paper, packaging and some single use products Notice to provide for the

– inclusion of a threshold of 10 tonnes per annum to focus on larger manufacturers;

– provision for licensed agents for branded products; and

– provision for the retailer to be the “producer” in circumstances for the identified products where the importer or licensed agent is unknown;

o The definitions of some categories have been amended such as biodegradable plastics, compostable plastics and single use plastics to biodegradable products, compostable products and some single use products respectively; and

o The targets for some identified products have been amended in agreement with the affected industry.

 

Should you wish to receive a copy of the draft amendment Regulations and/or the four above laws please feel free to contact us.

 

Kind regards

 

Mark Dittke