Agenda

• Note that the times are provided in CET
  

10:00 - Welcome and introduction – NCE

10:15 - Presentation on Plastics and the Circular Economy by Christoffer Vestli from the European Commission – What are the international reflections on extended producer responsibility, which changes are expected regarding regulations, and what goals are expected to come?

10:35 - Plenary session about the organization and type of producer responsibility schemes and the implementation of EU-regulations

11:05-11:35 - Lunch

• There will be panel discussions from 11:35. Please review the questions provided below in advance

1. Extended producer responsibility on packaging:

11:35-11:45 - Plenary session: Each country talks about the status on the implementation of a minimum criteria for extended producer responsibility (EPR) on packaging from the Waste Framework Directive, challenges and solutions.

11:45-12:15 - Group session: Discussion of three questions:

1. How are the roles and duties of producers, PROs (producer responsibility organizations) and municipalities defined?

2. How is it ensured that producers take responsibility and are member of a PRO?

3. How is it ensured that producers pay all the necessary costs, including municipal costs were this is relevant?
   

2. Extended producer responsibility on single-use plastics (SUP)

12:20-12:30 - Plenary session: Each country talks about the status on implementing extended producer responsibility (EPR) on single-use plastic products (SUP), challenges, solutions and public costs included in the schemes.

12:30-13:00 - Group session: discussion of three questions:

1. How are the producers identified?

2. How are the costs determined by public authorities?

3. How is the proportion of litter for the various SUP products determined?

13:00-13:15 - Summary and final remarks

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Purpose of the webinar

The development of new EU regulations will affect several areas within the circular economy. The aim of this workshop is to provide an overview over the work that is being done by the Nordic countries to develop extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes in line with the new regulations and exchange experiences. Specifically, questions regarding EPR schemes for packaging and single use plastics (SUP) are addressed.

General outcome

The webinar provided information about the development and experiences of EPR schemes in the Nordic countries since the 1990s. Success has been achieved in several countries with regard to waste collection and waste management. One of the challenges is to integrate circular economy in the EPR schemes and to extend the schemes to new products. From a broader point of view, the EU regulations have led to increased alignment of EPR schemes in the Nordics. At the national level there are differences between the approaches, particularly regarding how the schemes are organized including the roles and duties of producers, producer responsibility organizations (PROs) and different authorities. This provides a good background for learning across the Nordic countries. The exchange of information and experiences is considered valuable since it supports the authorities in their task to design and implement viable solutions. 

Key outcomes

• Defining rules and responsibilities for the stakeholders involved is a major task for most of the countries. The situation in Iceland is unique since the system is state-owned and financed via customs fees and taxes.

• Common challenges include how to determine costs, ensure cost coverage and to avoid free riders.

• The task to define the right level of cost coverage in the SUP scheme is quite similar amongst the countries, and including how to measure and ensure that producers will cover the costs. In Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland, the authorities will set fees and determine the scope of the cost. In Norway, the system is more based on the PROs and their definition of the cost amount.

• Clear differences in the plans for SUP-regulations. In Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Finland, the authorities are responsible for collecting information and setting fees. In Norway, the suggested approach is that PROs will be responsible for defining the costs. 

• Modulated costs may be used to enhance circularity, and more work should be done to explore possibilities. See also https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4261124

• Sharing experiences in the form of this webinar is considered as very useful. Participants would appreciate a forum where they can discuss experiences regarding the further development of the different approaches presented on this webinar in the future.