During the drafting of the Draft Law on Waste Management, emphasis should be placed on the experiences of EU countries in establishing an efficient organized system of receiving, collecting and processing waste from products: packaging, electrical and electronic equipment, batteries and accumulators of vehicles and tires, said the Minister of Tourism, Ecology, Sustainable of development and development of the north Vladimir Martinović.
The ministry noted that the Government of Montenegro adopted the Draft Law on Waste Management at today's session
"The emphasis of the new Draft Law is placed on the circular economy through the program of extended responsibility, selective waste collection and reduction of waste disposal, whereby Montenegro joins the developed countries in terms of waste management, and therefore environmental protection," they stated in the announcement.
Martinović emphasized that the EU's best practice, which was transferred in the Bill, is the Extended Producer Responsibility Program, which aims to ensure that, as he says, producers, i.e. importers of products, bear responsibility throughout the life of the products they put on the market.
"This is very important for Montenegro, which imports a large percentage of products that are covered by the system of extended responsibility, because the financial responsibility for the collection and disposal of these products is transferred to the importers or producers," he said.
According to him, the importer, i.e. the manufacturer, must aim to return the product to him at the end of its life and, as he says, take responsibility for its recycling, processing or disposal, which is also the practice in the EU.
Martinović stated that in accordance with the EU Directive on reducing the impact of certain plastic products on the environment, the Draft Law also dealt with, as he says, the issue of waste from single-use plastic products and waste fishing gear containing plastic.
"Given that it has a high potential for recycling, the obligation from the aforementioned Directive, which was introduced in the Draft Law on Waste Management, is to prescribe extended producer responsibility for this waste, in accordance with the "polluter pays" principle, in order to ensured separate collection and recycling," he added.
He explained that the Draft Law envisages the possibility for small and medium-sized importers to join the already existing organized system of collection, collection and processing of waste.
"In order to accept EU standards, the proposed law provided for the payment of a special fee for the disposal of mixed municipal waste. This would directly affect the reduction of the amount of mixed municipal waste that is disposed of," he said.
The ministry concluded that after the adoption of the law on waste management, the adoption of the National Waste Management Plan until 2028 is very important for this area.
Bonus video:
