Georgia to Introduce New System of Manufacturer’s Extended Obligations
The business sector suggests that the authorities follow an evolutionary path towards introducing a system of extended obligations for businesses, Natakhtari commercial director Nikoloz Khundzakishvili said.
The new regulations aim to remove waste from production and from the market, and the manufacturers are obliged to fulfill this process themselves. The new system is an obligation that Georgia has assumed as part of the EU association agreement. Moreover, it is a part of Georgia’s environmental protection policy.
The issue of the introduction of the extended obligations of manufacturers is not up for debate and the business sector entirely agrees with this obligation. However, to successfully implement the reform, it should be carried out gradually, in an evolutionary way, like it happened in EU countries, Khundzakishvili said.
“The manufacturer’s extended obligations are a part of our environmental protection policy on how to manage production waste, including remaining packing materials, vehicles, lubricants supplied to the market, and so on. It is not important in this specific case whether we recycle or sell these products later. For example, when you drink Natakhtari lemonade and the empty bottle remains, I, as the manufacturer, am obliged to collect these bottles and create the necessary infrastructure to this end. Information about this was made public on September 1, 2014, when the association agreement came into force. The industry started talking about this from day one. is a well-known method in the EU, and this is the best solution for removing production wastes from environment”, Khundzakishvili said.
The first obligation under this reform calls for establishing a collective organization, and this component of the legislation was to come into effect on December 1, 2019, but the enforcement was rescheduled for September 1, 2020. This obligation will be met, definitely, because the postponement provides enough time for fulfilling this obligation. Therefore, in this situation, the main thing is that the authorities prepare a model for a waste removal system, and introduce this model to the business sector, Khundzakishvili said.
“There is no obstacle to fulfilling this obligation. Therefore, now, the authorities should build up and offer the system up in the form of regulations”, Khundzakishvili noted.
Two main systems are run in the EU: a separated system (various types of wastes, for example, placing bottles in separate bins) and the so-called deposit system, when the market price is added to the ready-made products, and the consumers pay a higher price. For example, the bottle costs 20 Tetri, and consumers take back this surplus price, when returning the packing material/bottle to special centers, Khundzakishvili explained.
The deposit system is one of the best models for collecting wastes, but it is very expensive, and even EU countries moved to this system after 20-25 years of practice. It is worth noting that not all European countries have introduced this system. Therefore, it will be expedient for Georgia to follow this evolutionary way, introduce a classical separated method, and then move to the deposit model, Khundzakishvili added.
“Our business suggests that the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture to start with evolution and classical separated method of collection. If we do not start today, we will never be ready. During commencement, I mean that we should conduct information campaigns, and this is the obligation of our industry. We should urge people, through advertisements, including social advertisements, and accustom them to the separated collection of waste. We keep up good, easy communications with the Agriculture Ministry, and I can assure you that we will bring real results. The industry will be ready at any moment, as soon as we start, because without this start, we will never be ready”, Khundzakishvili noted.