Page 7 - MONTT GROUP MAGAZINE, ENERO 2018 (ENGLISH)

Chile: Implementation of the
Law for Promotion of Recycling Started
The Ministry of the Environment will initiate the complex enforcement of this provision, also called Extended Producer Responsibility, with actions aimed at establishing the goals of recovery and valorization of waste of six priority
products that will be controlled.
Recently, the Diario Oficial (Official Gazette) published the Regulation that establishes the procedure by which the Ministry of the Environment must elaborate the Supreme Decrees that contemplates the enforcement of the Law for the Promotion of Recycling, also known as the Extended Responsibility of the Producer (ERP). These Decrees must control the recovery of part of the waste of the so-called priority products established by law. when they have finished their useful life.
The Law for the Promotion of Recycling was enacted in May 2016, which opened a period of about one year, that has just been fulfilled, for the Secretary of State to carry out a pretty complicated provision that introduces new instruments for environmental management.
This expected law forces manufacturers and importers of six priority products (lubricating oils, electrical and electronic equipment, batteries, packaging, tires and batteries) to recover a percentage of their products when transformed into waste, which will be set annually by the Ministry of the Environment. If those goals are not met, the companies are exposed to fines of up to 10 Unidades Tributarias Anules (UTA), that is, almost five and a half million Chilean pesos.
Next Steps
In order to implement the law, it is necessary to elaborate Supreme Decrees that establish goals of waste collection and value these priority products, through a process of several phases, which could be extended for about 14 more months. In fact, soon the Ministry of the Environment will publish a resolution that instructs to open a file to elaborate the Supreme Decree that sets the goal of recovery of waste from this year for a first category that includes Packaging and Tires. This resolution indicates the priority product, as well as the categories or subcategories and the deadline to receive background on the subject.
Then, along with other studies, the Secretary of State will conduct a general analysis of the economic and social impact, which should evaluate the costs involved in complying with the draft, as well as its main benefits.
During this period, the Ministry should also establish an expanded operating committee, composed of representatives of ministries, producers, waste managers, consumer associations, grassroots waste pickers, academia, non-governmental organizations, among others. Within the first six months, the Secretary of State will have to prepare the Supreme Decree draft and publish an extract in the Official Gazette.
Then comes a period of 70 days of consultations with competent bodies, after which the proposal for a Supreme Decree that sets the goal will be drawn up and sent to the Council of Ministers for Sustainability for discussion and pronouncement. After that the final Decree is drawn up, which is delivered, subsequently, to the Comptroller’s Office.
Annual Waste
In terms of inclusion, the certification system for labour competencies of waste pickers will be started, which will allow this group to participate, formally, in the waste management system.
They are people who for years worked outside the system; today the law puts a series of conditions that equals them with a private manager, who knows the business, that is, how to separate the waste, what to sell and to whom. In order to participate, the Ministry of the Environment will create a record, stating that these collectors have the corresponding sanitary and environmental authorizations. This list may include those around 60 thousand people who exercise this trade freely in the country, which will help formalize their activity.
In parallel, and in order to collaborate with the fulfilment of the requirements established to the producers, the municipalities will be able to celebrate agreements with basic recyclers, and also these organizations will have to incorporate in their ordinances the obligation of selective collection when this is established by the Decree of a certain product.
Municipalities will also promote environmental education on waste and to support this task, the law contemplates a Recycling Fund of two billion Chilean pesos, destined to finance projects and programs to prevent the generation of waste and encourage its recycling.
In Chile today about 17 million tons of waste are produced each year, of which seven million tons correspond to household waste. This implies that the generation rate is just over one kilo per day per inhabitant. Of this, less than 10 percent is recycled, which means that more than 90 percent of the waste ends up buried in a sanitary landfill with the consequent losses of raw materials and energy that could be generated.
Montt Latin American Magazine p7