Polish climate ministry demands changes in Polish deposit-return scheme by end-24
The existing law on the introduction of the Polish deposit-return scheme as of January 1 is dangerous and could lead to embezzlement, so it is important that its amendment is adopted by the end of the year, deputy climate minister Anita Sowinska told reporters. The amendment also provides for, among other things, the exclusion of milk packaging from the system.
"I hope that parliament will handle this law quickly and this is indeed happening, as a subcommittee meeting is scheduled for November 19," Sowinska said.
She stressed that it is significant that the scheme is passed and signed by the president by the end of the year.
"We already have a deposit-return scheme that was passed last year, it is already a binding document, and it assumes the launch (of the scheme) on January 1, but this law is dangerous. It can lead to abuse, to embezzlement because there is a wrongly calculated bail and we are correcting this mistake with this amendment because we want this system to be safe, but also consumer-friendly," she added.
Other important demands are also sewn into the amendment, she added, including the availability of customer collection points, the exclusion of dairy products and the tightening of VAT.
One of the main objectives of the draft amendment is to postpone the start of the deposit system to October 1, 2025. Under the current legislation, it was to start at the beginning of the new year.
However, on October 16, minister of climate and environment Paulina Henning-Kloska signalled that the scheme may not be ready to start operating from January 1 and that there is a possibility of a 6-month delay.
jz/ nl/ han/
