What producer responsibility?
Producer responsibility is a legal obligation for businesses. It applies to companies that pack products in Finland or import packed products for the Finnish market or sell their products to Finland through distance sales. An exception to this is so called service and grower packaging where producer responsibility belongs to the manufacturer or importer of service and grower packaging. A company is also responsible for its packaging if the packing or logistics has been outsourced to another company.
A company with producer responsibility for packaging is responsible for the entire process of collection and recycling of their packaging waste as well as all related costs. The Packaging Waste Decree stipulates that producers must meet the material-based recycling objectives and requirements for packaging waste in Finland.
It is easiest for a company to handle producer responsibility by joining a producer organisation, in which case the producer responsibility is transferred to the producer organisation.
In addition to packaging, the Waste Act stipulates producer responsibility for tyres of motor vehicles, cars, electrical and electronic equipment, batteries and accumulators as well as paper products.
What does producer responsibility mean?
What kind of companies must meet producer responsibility obligations for packaging?
Packaging producer responsibility concerns all professionally operating companies that place packaging on the Finnish market (packed products or service or grower packaging).
Packaging producer responsibility concerns Finnish companies*, that
- pack or subcontract packing of products to the Finnish market (excl. service- and grower packaging)
- import packed products
- manufacture or import service or grower packaging to the Finnish market
The party with producer responsibility for service- and grower packaging, i.e. the “producer” is the Finnish manufacturer or importer of the packaging.
Service packaging: packaging that is used to pack food and other products for consumers directly at the point of sale.
Grower packaging: packaging that is used to pack unprocessed agricultural and horticultural products to be sold directly from the holding.
Packaging producer responsibility concerns also foreign companies that,
- sell packed products directly to users in Finland via distance sales.
*A Finnish company means a company with a Finnish business ID and is domiciled in Finland OR a Finnish branch of a foreign company, that is registered in the Trade Register maintained by the National Board of Patents and Registration and has a permanent establishment in Finland.
How to handle producer responsibility
Companies handle their producer responsibility obligations for packaging by signing a contract with a producer organisation. The contract with Finnish Packaging Producers Ltd is registered by Rinki.
The contract with the producer organisation covers producer responsibility obligations for packaging placed on the Finnish market. Companies are required to organise the transport of waste sorted on site from their property. This can be arranged with a waste transport company – these costs are not included in the recycling fees.
The implementation of producer responsibility is supervised
The Finnish Supervisory Agency is the authority that supervises the implementation of packaging producer responsibility in Finland. The Agency carries out supervisory tasks in cooperation with other authorities such as the Tax Administration, Customs and the Finnish Environmental institute.
Rinki submits the packaging statistics that it collects from Finnish Packaging Producers Ltd customers to the Finnish Supervisory Agency every year. The statistics only show total packaging material volumes.
Every year, the Finnish Supervisory Agency reports the accumulated packaging waste volumes as well as information about recycling and reuse to the European Commission.
Neglecting producer responsibility can lead to a significant fine
If a company with producer responsibility does not fulfil its producer responsibility obligations, the Finnish Supervisory Agency may impose a negligence fine corresponding to 1% of the company’s turnover in the previous year, with a minimum fine of EUR 500 up to a maximum of EUR 500,000. Before a fine is imposed, the company will receive a written request to cover its obligations.
A fine can also be imposed for failing to submit required data, with a minimum fine of EUR 500 up to a maximum of EUR 10,000.
Producer organisations are responsible for recycling packaging waste
Packaging industry producer organisations are legally competent not-for-profit organisations. They are responsible for ensuring that the targets set by EU and Finnish legislation for recycling of packaging are met in Finland, and that the receipt of packaging at terminals and related communications are carried out in accordance with the legislation.
The producer organisations agree on material-specific recycling fees. Rinki invoices producer responsibility fees from Finnish Packaging Producers Ltd customers on behalf of the producer organisation.
The aim is to arrange recycling of packaging cost-effectively and in a manner that ensures that the fees paid by companies remain reasonable.
Companies must arrange for waste disposal from their properties
Despite the producer responsibility system, companies are responsible for sorting packaging waste that remains on their premises and arranging transportation. Waste transportation can be agreed upon with a waste transport company. Transportation costs must be paid separately and are not included in the recycling fees.
The recycling fees cover the recycling of packaging placed on the Finnish market by a company and the collection of consumer packaging in Finland. The collection of packaging waste from the company’s premises is not included in these fees.
The recycling fees cover the funding of the network of terminals for receiving packaging waste, where materials are received free of charge, as well as the transportation of the materials from the terminals to the waste treatment plant and the cost of recycling them or turning them into raw material for new products.