Polish Recyclers Call for Reform of Outdated Recycling Document System, Citing Risks of Corruption and EU Penalties

Polish recyclers are urging the Ministry of Climate and Environment to change the method of issuing recycling confirmation documents. In the last five years alone, in fourteen provinces across Poland, Marshall’s Offices have invalided DPRs (recycling confirmation documents) issued for 70 thousand tons of waste. A recent announcement from the Polish Recyclers Association alleges that extending the duration of the current method of issuing recycling confirmation documents – DPR, EDPR until January 1, 2027, equates to agreeing to another two years of an outdated and corruption-prone system, according to the statement sent to the Ministry on September 4, 2024.

The lack of proposed changies and option to keep paper declarations in circulation means that the leaky and corruption-prone system of document transfer, which operates out of control, remains in force. From the Ministry of Climate and Environment’s information on planned changes in the waste management act, it appears that, since the legislative process of new EU regulations on packaging and packaging waste under Extended Producer Responsibility is nearing completion, the ministry does not anticipate any regulation regarding the confirmation of achieving the levels of waste management from products covered by the EPR system.

– At the beginning of September, we sent a letter to the Ministry, drawing attention to the potential consequences of leaving the process in its current form. We hope for an adequate response and regulation of the DPR. Currently, the money transfer in exchange for processed waste is based on a physically issued paper document, which only requires a permit for recycling activity. Due to documents practically moving from hand to hand, there is no way to trace where and to where secondary raw materials were transported. There is also no data or any traces of waste management in a broad sense – explains Sławomir Pacek, President of the Polish Recycling Association.

In the “Bill amending the Act on Waste and several other Acts” project included in September’s list of legislative work by the Council of Ministers, it was proposed to extend the duration of the current method of issuing recycling confirmation documents in paper form, and not via BDO (Product and Packaging Database and Waste Management).

– In June and July, we asked all Marshall’s Offices about how many and on what amounts of waste the documents were invalidated. The response from fourteen of them provides a fairly clear picture of the scale of abuses, because just within the last five years, documents declaring recycling confirmations for 70 thousand tons of waste have been invalidated. This is a lot – continues the President of the Association.

So, what can be done to tighten the system? According to the Polish Recycling Association, the most comprehensive solution will be the fastest possible implementation of the EPR.

In experts’ view, one should choose a solution that will mandatorily introduce electronic DPR certificates. This will allow the creation of databases and recording all movements of those introducing in this area. It will then be known exactly where, to what extent and at what costs the waste was processed.

– The lack of decisive changes means that the grey zone distorts real data. Ease of manipulating the process means that the industry is moving in a fictional reality of false documents certifying tens of thousands of tons of non-existent materials. These losses can be counted in millions of zlotys annually. The cause of this situation is the lack of a transparent system of Extended Producer Responsibility. In EU countries, this system has been functioning for years, the market is thus centrally regulated, electronically, and such procedures do not occur. In Poland, we are still awaiting specific legislative decisions, even though the EU deadline for introducing the EPR passed in January 2023 – explains Anna Larsson, the director for implementing WMC models at Reloop Platform.

The Ministry’s argument against this solution is the financial issue. According to published information, the funds of the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management do not foresee an adequate level and time of funding associated with the maintenance and development of the database.

Anna Larsson points to a possible solution, which is in the currently applicable provisions of the Framework Waste Directive, obliging those introducing to cover the costs of maintaining databases about waste. In this way, the administrative fee for the digital transformation of DPRs could be settled by existing recovery organizations.

In Poland, the implementation of the EPR system is currently being discussed. The lack of decisive movements on this matter and non-compliance of national law with the EU directive may result in further severe financial penalties from the European Commission. Indeed, the deadline for introducing appropriate legal regulations expired on January 5, 2023.