RBC: Cabinet postponed reform of extended business responsibility for waste to 2023
Photo: Semen Likhodeev / Russian Look / Global Look Press
The Russian government has postponed the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) reform for the disposal of goods and packaging until 2023. This was reported to RBC by the office of Deputy Prime Minister Victoria Abramchenko.
As the newspaper writes, the Cabinet of Ministers has developed a new version of the bill on the extended liability of businesses for garbage. The document assumes, from 2023, the utilization of all packaging by manufacturers and a gradual increase in the standard for the utilization of all types of goods by at least 10 percent annually. Manufacturers must pay an eco-tax if they refuse to recycle.
The fact that the Ministry of Natural Resources will have to finalize the bill presented in the summer, tightening the ROP, was reported earlier. Then, in strengthening the responsibility of business for waste disposal, they noticed several contradictions in the current trade turnover and threats to the economy.
As Victoria Abramchenko pointed out, more than 60 million tons of solid municipal waste is generated in Russia every year, most of which is sent to landfills, which is a serious environmental burden. “In accordance with the instructions of the president, it is time to introduce the principle of the polluter pays,” the newspaper quoted her as saying. The deputy prime minister stressed that there are no prerequisites for raising prices or emptying shelves as a result of the reform, the bill is aimed at ensuring and monitoring the fulfillment of those obligations that are supposedly being fulfilled by business, she added.
The document will be discussed with all interested departments at the government site in January 2022, and after that it will be submitted to the State Duma for consideration.
In mid-October, Abramchenko announced her intention to use “coercive tools” against the regions in order to force them to deal with waste in a new way. So far, Astrakhan, Kaliningrad, Kursk, Moscow and Murmansk regions have become leaders in the implementation of the waste reform.
