Every year, Norwegian residents pay at least one billion kronor in additional fees because plastic packaging manufacturers shirk their responsibility. Samfunnsbedriftene are suing Norway for violating EEA rules because the authorities allow it.
– Manufacturers of plastic packaging are financially responsible for plastics even after they have become waste. This means that they have to cover the costs that Norwegian municipalities incur for collecting and recycling plastic. But they don't pay the bill. Instead, they send a billion-dollar bill to citizens. We consider it illegal, says Svein Kamfjord.
He is the director of Samfunnsbedriftene Avfall ogres, Norway's largest employer and interest organization for municipal companies. It includes over 100 waste companies that are left with the bill when plastic producers run away from their responsibilities.
Manufacturer's responsibility
There is general agreement in Norway that anyone who pollutes the environment must also bear the costs. That's why we have producer responsibility schemes. This means that producers and importers are responsible for their products even after they have become waste. In practice, producers have to bear the costs incurred by municipalities and companies dealing with municipal waste in order to collect plastic from households and sort as much of it as possible, and send the rest to an incineration plant or landfill.
With producer responsibility, manufacturers will be incentivized to create better products that can be reused, repaired or recycled – and reduce the amount of plastic waste that goes to incineration. Producer responsibility applies not only to plastic packaging, but also to EE products, batteries, glass, metal, cardboard, paper and other materials.
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In Norway, these systems do not work as they should. The regulations are full of loopholes, the authorities do not have their own understanding of the amount of waste, and producers can choose how much they want to pay.
– We have made calculations that show that manufacturers miss well over a billion crowns every year. This is a very conservative estimate and only applies to plastic packaging. All in all, producers can steal huge sums of money each year, says Kamfjord.
– Municipalities have no choice but to pass the bill on to residents who receive a higher fee for waste. So you and I have to pay for the fact that manufacturers continue to send around 200 tons of bad and environmentally unfriendly plastic packaging to the market every year, says Kamfjord.
Norway is not consistent in implementing producer responsibility
Samfunnsbedriftene have lodged a complaint against Norway with the EFTA monitoring body, ESA. The reason is that Norway is not consistent in implementing producer responsibility as an instrument, as required by the 2018 revised EU Waste Framework Directive. This framework applies to Norwegian law.
Since the Norwegian environmental authorities have not introduced regulations to meet extended producer responsibility requirements, municipalities and their waste companies also do not receive coverage labor costs related to waste collection and management.
– Our complaint to ESA also shows how Norway is breaking the rules regulations regarding public aid. When authorities allow producers to pass a producer responsibility law and pass on the costs to municipalities, this should be considered state aid to producers. It's illegal, says Kamfjord.
“In addition, environmental authorities allow manufacturers to forego the cost of incinerating plastic that cannot be recycled. So we have a system where manufacturers, strangely enough, can make money by using bad plastic that cannot be recycled. Then they are guaranteed that they will not have to pay anything. He says it is extremely embarrassing for a country as committed to environmental protection as Norway.
Samfunnsbedriftene outlined a simple solution to correct prejudice:
- We need to remove the ability for manufacturers to put a price tag on the plastic themselves and thus negotiate away from the real cost. The independent party must calculate the costs.
- We need a record of everyone who sells products subject to producer responsibility. This must be followed by supervision and control so that no one escapes responsibility.
- We need to ensure that municipalities are not left with huge amounts of plastic that has been sorted out. Producers must be responsible for what is harvested when requested by municipalities.
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Source: Samfunnsbedriftene
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