IMPLEMENTATION OF WASTE COLLECTION REGULATIONS

09/01/2003

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The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) has announced its Scope of Products and Containers to Be Collected, Removed and Dis-posed of by Manufacturers and Importers, and of Enterprises Responsible for Collection, Removal and Disposal. The main points are as follows:

Mandatory collection, removal and disposal of products and their containers are phased in from 1 July 2003, in accordance with the Im-plementation Schedule for the Mandatory Collection, Removal and Disposal of Products and Their Containers announced by the EPA.

Manufacturers and importers with responsi-bility for collection, removal and disposal of waste products and containers must report their sale or import quantities of products and containers, and must pay collection, removal and disposal fees.

Container manufacturers and importers with responsibility for waste collection must report the quantities of product containers sold by them, and identify the purchasers.

In the case of flat-board containers1 or non-flat-board disposable tableware2 supplied to manufacturers of packaged goods, respon-sibility for the reporting of quantities and the payment of collection, removal and disposal fees for such containers or tableware lies with the packaged goods manufacturers.

Except for manufacturers of flat-board con-tainers or non-flat-board disposable tableware, manufacturers responsible for paying collec-tion, removal and disposal fees are to be iden-tified by the following criteria:

1.In the case of goods marked with a trade-mark, the user of the trademark is respon-sible for paying fees.

2.In the case of goods not marked with a trademark, the marked manufacturer is re-sponsible for paying fees. If goods are marked with the names of two or more manufacturers, the commissioning entity is responsible for paying fees.

3.In the case of goods marked with neither a trademark nor the name of the manufac-turer, the manufacturer is responsible for paying fees.

Note 1: Flat-board containers means contain-ers as referred to in Table 2-1 of the imple-mentation schedule, i.e. disposable tableware, cake and bread cartons, and fresh produce trays manufactured from paper or plastic board.

Note 2: Non-flat-board disposable tableware means disposable plastic tableware as referred to in Table 2-1 of the implementation schedule, but not including that manufactured from plastic board.