RECOVERY

HOW CAN A FIRM TAKE CARE OF RECOVERY IF IT DOES NOT WISH TO JOIN PYR?
By collecting the packaging placed on the market and by arranging its recovery as material or energy at its own cost. In practice, very few firms are able to do this.

OUR FIRM ALREADY HAS A CONTRACT FOR WASTE MANAGEMENT. DO WE STILL HAVE TO JOIN PYR?
The transport of waste and the recovery of packaging waste are two different matters and a contract for waste management only covers transport. A contract with PYR concerns the recovery of packaging waste as material or as energy, which means that packaging waste has already been collected and sorted. Moreover, a contract with PYR specifically applies to the packaging that a firm has placed on the market in Finland containing its own products.

WHAT DO PRODUCER ORGANISATIONS DO? DO THEY COME AND COLLECT THE FIRMS’ PACKAGING?
The producer organisations organise the recovery of packaging, for instance, by making contracts with firms that recover packaging. The producer organisations are responsible for the attainment of the recovery targets for packaging. Collection and transport do not constitute recovery and only form the first step towards this end. The producer organisations’ responsibility commences when the packaging waste is received by collection centres approved by the respective producer organisations.

WHY ARE THE RECOVERY FEES SO LOW IN COMPARISON TO THOSE IN SWEDEN OR GERMANY, FOR INSTANCE? WILL THE FEES RISE WITH STRICTER RECOVERY TARGETS?
Recovery fees are not expected to rise even close to the level of those in Sweden or Germany. PYR and the producer organisations are non-profit organisations and fees are not raised unless it is absolutely essential to do so to attain the targets.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RECYCLING AND RECOVERY, OR DO THEY MEAN THE SAME THING?
No, it is not the same thing. According to the packaging waste directive, recycling means the conversion of collected packaging material so that it can be used to manufacture a new product. Recovery is a wider concept. It covers the above as well as the use of packaging in incineration to recover energy from it. The term “recycling” is generally used with rather broad reference and often incorrectly to describe almost all recovery to win back material.

DOES THE RECOVERY OBLIGATION APPLY TO PACKAGING USED IN TRANSPORT IN ADDITION TO THAT GOING TO THE END-USER?
Yes, as both are packaging.