The event brought together around 100 participants from Eastern Partnership countries and international stakeholders, including representatives of relevant Ministries, local authorities, UNEP, international organizations, the EU Delegation, private sector and CSOs from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine.
The goal of the WS was to facilitate a regional dialogue and information sharing on the status of the EPR in the partner countries, discuss main issues and bottlenecks in the EPR implementation; and look at the mechanisms and solutions for a successful implementation of operational EPR schemes in the region.
The more concrete objectives included: to identify and discuss common critical issues with EPR within the region (based on a study carried out) as well as to discuss policy choices and pragmatic elements of EPR. Joachim Quoden, EXPRA MD presented and discussed with the participants the current best practices for the EPR schemes for packaging waste in EU Member States (Belgium and the Czech Republic). The opportunities for the EPR system establishment in partner countries, including the development of a regional approach to EPR were presented by Kyriakos Parpunas a partner under the project.
The following interactive discussion covered many important topics as: Policy development and implementation, Minimum EPR requirements, Action from the private sector: Monitoring and enforcement, single v/s multiple PROs, Informal sector and public awareness/role of the inhabitants/consumers.