Icelandic Recycling Fund
Iceland
From 2003 till 2011 ÖKO-Pannon was operated to help its partners fulfil their obligations stipulated by national law and to support sustainable development. Within its core activities, ÖKO-Pannon co-ordinated the waste management circle from the output of packers and fillers, through the collection and recycling activities. In a close co-operation with municipalities, ÖKO-Pannon was contracted to all parties in the waste management circle.
System Description
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Icelandic Recycling Fund
The Recycling Fund is a state-owned agency, responsible to the Minister for the Environment. In order to ensure the best possible outcome of agency activities, its Board is composed of the representatives of those who have the greatest interest in waste handling being as efficient as possible, i.e. representatives of municipalities and the commercial sector.
The five directors on the Recycling Fund Board are appointed by the Minister for the Environment for four-year terms. The Minister appoints the Board Chairman without a nomination, along with one director upon a mutual nomination by the Federation of Icelandic Fish Processing Plants and the Federation of Icelandic Fishing Vessel Owners, one director from the Federation of Icelandic Industries, one director from the Federation of Trade and Services and one director from the National Association of Local Authorities in Iceland.
The Fund applies economic incentives to establish practical arrangements for processing waste, which means providing the monetary prerequisites so that businesses in the market will realize the benefit of involving themselves in the processing programme. It is for this reason that the Fund contracts out waste processing, based on tenders or task contracts, and uses the recycling fee to pay the expenses.
The purpose of operating the Icelandic Recycling Fund and collecting recycling fees. In recent years, understanding has increased of how necessary it is to gain control of the growing quantity of waste that has accompanied today’s consumer society. Demands are placed by individuals, municipalities and the commercial sector on systematic solutions for waste and on products not causing damage to the environment. At the level of the European Economic Area, rules with this objective have been set for the Area as a whole, as well as by the governments of individual member states.
These rules build on the “polluter pays principle”, meaning that whoever causes waste should pay for its reuse, recovery or disposal. The trend is towards shifting responsibility to an ever greater extent onto those who put the product on the market, regardless of whether they are manufacturers or importers. This is referred to as “producer liability”. Iceland’s authorities have set the goal of systematically reducing the waste formation and channelling waste into reuse and recovery. The Act on Recycling Fees was passed in an effort to achieve this end, charging the Icelandic Recycling Fund with creating conducive economic conditions for reuse and recovery, lowering the volume of waste going into final disposal and ensuring the proper disposal of hazardous substances.
Communication activities
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Prevention
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Contact
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The Icelandic Recycling Fund/ Úrvinnslusjóður
Suðurlandsbraut 24, 108 Reykjavík
ICELAND
E-mail: urvinnslusjodur@urvinnslusjodur.is
Web: www.urvinnslusjodur.is