Joint Industry Statement on Slovakia’s Proposed Amendment to the Environmental Fund Act
Opposition to the Proposed Amendment
The undersigned organisations strongly oppose the proposed amendment to Slovakia’s Environmental Fund (EF) Act, which aims to authorise the Environmental Fund to act as a Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO) within the national Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system.
Such a change would significantly reduce the effectiveness of Slovakia’s established EPR system for packaging and risk jeopardising the achievement of national and EU recycling targets.
The Purpose of Extended Producer Responsibility
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) has been mandatory for all packaging since 31 December 2024. It serves as the financial and organisational mechanism that bridges the gap between the costs of separate collection, sorting, and recycling, and the market value of secondary raw materials.
Article 8a of the EU Waste Framework Directive (WFD), together with the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), clearly defines the role of EU Member States in EPR systems: to authorise and supervise PROs, not to act as them.
By taking on the role of a PRO, the State would place itself in a conflicted and inappropriate position—responsible both for regulating and implementing the same system. Such an approach fundamentally undermines the principle of producer responsibility, contradicts international best practice, and raises concern in light of the growing tendency toward state-run EPR schemes across Europe.
Risks to Recyclability and Packaging Market Access
The PPWR sets ambitious recycling and recyclability-at-scale targets that require nearly all consumer, commercial, and industrial packaging to be separately collected, sorted, and recycled.
By transferring EPR responsibilities to a state-run entity, the proposed amendment threatens to undermine progress toward these objectives. It could, in practice, hinder the recyclability-at-scale performance mandated under the PPWR and ultimately lead to loss of market access for numerous packaging applications by 2035—even for those that fully comply with the PPWR’s design-for-recycling requirements. This would negatively affect both businesses and consumers.
Context and European Commission Assessment
In its 2023 Waste Early Warning Report, the European Commission concluded that Slovakia was at risk of failing to meet the 2025 Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (PPWD) recycling targets, now incorporated into the PPWR.
The Commission’s recommendations to Slovakia included implementing pay-as-you-throw systems and improving the management and quality of recycling data. Notably, the report identified no justification for state intervention in the form of the government assuming producer responsibilities.
Nevertheless, on 1 October 2025, the Slovak government submitted, under an expedited legislative procedure, an amendment to the national Waste Law that would empower the Environmental Fund to act as a PRO.
Our Call for Action
The undersigned organisations urge Members of the National Council of the Slovak Republic to reject the government’s proposal to amend the Environmental Fund Act.
We call on policymakers to ensure that Slovakia’s EPR system:
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Remains aligned with the minimum requirements of the EU Waste Framework Directive;
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Continues to support the recyclability-at-scale objectives of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation; and
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Preserves the integrity, transparency, and effectiveness of the country’s producer responsibility system.