Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Although the EnvironmentalProducer Responsibility (EPR) scheme could create an incentive for thephase-out of eco-unfriendly and non-recyclable packaging in the long term, itwould shift the heavy financial burden for end-of-life waste management frommunicipalities to producers and importers.

This was the concern among Vietnamese plastic companies over theEPR scheme that will take effect on January 1, 2024.

A representative from the Vietnam Plastic Association (VPA) saidthe EPR scheme, which was first introduced in the Law on EnvironmentalProtection in 2020, would make plastic producers and importers responsible forthe recycling of their packaging from early 2024.

They are allowed to undertake the responsibility by eitherchoosing a form of recycling defined in Decree No. 08 or paying EPR fees to theVietnam Environmental Protection Fund. Four forms of recycling are available:self-implementing, engaging a recycling unit, authorising an intermediary, orcombining these three forms.

Producers and importers who opt for EPR fees would be neitherrequired to implement a recycling plan nor report on the results of recycling.The fees would come into force on January 1, 2024 for packaging, 2025 forelectronics, and 2027 for vehicles.

VPA Secretary-General Huynh Thi My said the plastic industry canbe divided into four main sub-industries, namely packaging, household-use plastics,building plastics, and engineering plastics. Packaging would be the onlysub-industry to be made subject to EPR fees owing to its substantial impacts onthe environment.

Under Decree No. 08, EPR fees are determined by multiplying volumeof plastic waste (V), compulsory recycling rate (R), and reasonable recyclingcost for a unit volume of packaging (Fs). Although the Fs has yet to bepromulgated, plastic companies are concerned that the cost would weigh heavilyon their financial position.

"Fs must be set as low as possible, or else producers wouldhave no choice but to pass EPR fees on to their product prices, puttingconsumers at the receiving end of the policy," said My.

A company producing 100 tonnes of PP packaging per month could betaken as an example to demonstrate Fs's implications. As the compulsoryrecycling rate applicable to PP packaging is set at 15%, the company would berequired to recycle at least 15 tonnes of PP plastics monthly under DecreeNo.08.

Suppose the Fs proposed by the Ministry of Natural Resources andEnvironment is used to calculate EPR fees, the fee incurred by a company wouldstand at 4 billion VND annually, a substantial outgoing for its revenue of 200billion VND.

Experts called for a step-by-step approach to the promulgation ofFs to make plastic companies well-prepared for the upcoming EPR scheme. Thefirst step, they believed, should involve setting a norm for the treatment ofplastic waste; the next, building more facilities for plastic collection andrecycling./.