The bill on waste disposal at the expense of manufacturers will be submitted to the State Duma this year

© Timur Khanov/PG

The Government is finalizing the draft law on extended producer responsibility, according to which goods and packaging that have lost their consumer properties must be disposed of at the expense of the manufacturers themselves, and plan to submit it to the State Duma this year. Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology Alexander Kozlov said this at an expanded meeting of the State Duma Committee on Ecology, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection on March 6.

Committee Chairman Dmitry Kobylkin asked when the Government plans to introduce a bill on extended producer responsibility. Recall that, according to the concept of ERP, the extended responsibility of producers and importers of goods is understood as a mechanism of economic regulation, according to which manufacturers and importers of goods are obliged to ensure their disposal after use and loss of consumer properties.

“This year we are waiting for the law on extended producer responsibility. The Government is finishing the conciliation procedures, after which we will definitely submit it to the State Duma,” the minister said.

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Every year, 60 million tons of municipal solid waste is generated in the country. “In 2019, out of 61 million tons of waste, 58 were sent to the ground, and only 2 million 700 thousand went for recycling. Last year, 37 million tons of 46 formed were sent for disposal, and already 5.5 million for disposal,” Kozlov said.

He said that 23 million tons of processing and disposal capacities have been put into operation. “Of course, this is not enough. In order to cope with the whole mountain of garbage and achieve the implementation of the presidential decree, more than 50 million tons of processing capacities must operate continuously in the country,” Alexander Kozlov said.

Also read about what laws come into force in March.