Producer responsibility for packaging
Producer responsibility for packaging is a legal obligation for companies to organize the re-use, recycling and other waste management of products and to cover the costs of this. This obligation encourages producers to take greater responsibility for the environmental impact of their products while promoting sustainable production and consumption.
Who does producer responsibility for packaging apply to?
Producer responsibility for packaging applies to companies that place packaging professionally on the Finnish market. The operators subject to producer responsibility are therefore packers, importers, distance, sellers, manufacturers of service or farme’s packaging and importers of service or farmer’s packaging. As an importer of packaging, Ki-Sal Oy is a producer-responsible company.
In addition to packaging, producer responsibility applies to many other product groups, such as cars, batteries and accumulators, paper, tyres and electrical and electronic equipment. For each product group, producer responsibility must be handled separately.
Managing producer responsibility
You can take on producer responsibility by becoming a member of a producer organization. It is easy to join through the Rinki, which acts as a link between producer organizations and companies with producer responsibility. There are two packaging producer associations in Finland: Sumi Oy and Finnish Packaging Producers LTD. These associations are responsible for collecting, transporting, disposing of, recycling and reporting annual monitoring data on behalf of producer-responsible companies.
Companies can choose which community they want to join. Producer communities determine the packaging material-specific recycling fees that producer-responsible companies pay to the Rinki.
A list of registered companies can be found at: https://rinkiin.fi/en/producer-responsibility/registered-companies/
Change in producer responsibility for packaging 2024
The year 2024 brought with it changes to the turnover limit for producer responsibility for packaging and to the definition of producer. Previously, producer responsibility only applied to companies with a turnover of more than €1 million, and now, with the removal of the turnover limit, an estimated 30,000 new companies will be covered by producer responsibility. In addition, for service and farmer’s packaging, producer responsibility will be extended to importers and manufacturers. The changes are based on the 2022 waste reform.
Ki-Sal Oy has previously been producer responsible for packaging that protects products, such as cardboard boxes and pallets. With the extension of producer responsibly, Ki-Sal Oy will now also take on producer responsibility for service packaging. Service packaging refers to packaging that is packaged at the point of sale and sold directly to consumers. Such packaging includes, for example, take-away packaging.
These changes are driven by the desire to promote a circular economy and sustainable waste management. The packaging waste recycling target is 65% by 2025 and 70% by 2035.
Together we build a more sustainable tomorrow – Remember to recycle!
