The “EPR Toolkit” workshop, which served as a pre-conference event, was held on May 3 with the aim of addressing the current hot and challenging themes pertaining to the growing need for unified EPR requirements and regulations.
Ms Monika Romenska, Regulatory and Public Affairs Manager at EXPRA, provided an overview of the current implementation of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (PPWD) and the Waste Framework Directive (WFD), focusing on the EPR minimum requirements. After that, a very interesting panel discussion on eco modulations took place, where Mr Mike Jefferson, Director at Verde Research Consulting, moderated the various interventions of Mr Luca Ruini, President of CONAI, Miss Romane Colleu, EU Policy Officer at CITEO, Mr Henrik Nilsson, CEO at Svenskt Producentansvar AB, Mr Joao Letras, Director at Waste Management Sociedade Porto Verde and Mr Jens Niessmann, Managing Director, Reclay Group. The excellent panel discussed fee modulation approaches in Europe and the best performances to meet EU recycling and recovery targets through a harmonized approach.
In the following session, Mr Joe Papineschi, Eunomia Research Consulting, presented “Online sales: measures to address free-riding.” Also, three esteemed panelists: Mrs Gunda Rachut, president of Stiftung Zentrale Stelle Verpackungsregister, Mr Andreas Perti, an official of VKS GmbH Austrian Packaging Coordination Office, and Mr Joao Simao Pires, president of CAGER- Waste Management Oversight Committee, formed a panel discussion on EPR Competition: “Challenges for the independent body”.
Mr Simon Francis Webb, Government Relations and Public Policy at Procter & Gamble, and Mr Gyorgy Viskei, Co-president at the Hungarian Association of Packaging and Materials Handling, explained their presentations during the session “Mandatory use of EPR: Case Studies of national solutions”. In the last session, Mr Scott Cassel, Chief Executive Officer at the Product Stewardship Institute (PSI), presented the packaging EPR in the U.S.
Finally, for the first time in two and a half years, EXPRA was able to organise the famous traditional networking dinner after the EPR Toolkit workshop in the centre of Brussels: a great opportunity to reconnect with colleagues and friends.