Although the Extended Producer Responsibility Law (REP Law) published its official decree in 2021, it will be in september 2023 when all the guidelines set forth by the authority will come into force.
During the month of September 2023, Law N°20.920, regarding the “Framework for Waste Management, Extended Producer Responsibility and Promotion of Recycling”, known as REP Law, will come into force.
What does it consist of?
The law aims to reduce the generation of waste and encourage its reuse, recycling and other types of recovery, through the establishment of extended producer responsibility and other waste management instruments in order to protect people’s health and the environment.
In this way, the authority seeks mainly that, instead of a linear waste circuit, where waste is produced and discarded, a new circular model is achieved, in which products and all that is needed to produce them retain their usefulness and value.
To this end, this law involves a series of participants that play a specific role in the objectives proposed by the law. On the one hand, we have producers of priority products that generate waste. They must, individually or collectively, manage the collection and recovery of their waste through a Management System, which, through public bidding procedures, will organize and contract Waste Managers, who will be in charge of collecting and managing it.
Thus, the Management System is the mechanism foreseen for the producers, individually or collectively, to comply with the obligations established in the framework of the extended producer responsibility, through the implementation of a management plan.
Thus, the REP Law corresponds to a special waste management regime, in which the producers of priority products are responsible for the organization and financing of the waste management (of such products) that they market in the country.
Which are the Priority Products subject to this new Law?
- Lubricating oils.
- Batteries.
- Electrical and electronic devices.
- Containers and packaging.
- Tires.
- Newspapers and magazines.
How will it be regulated?
- Targets (%) will be established for the entire national territory.
- In relation to the quantity (weight) of priority products introduced in the national market.
- Applying the principles of gradualism and hierarchy in waste management.
- Differences may be established in terms of recycling processes (mechanized recycling or composting plants).
- Additional waste prevention obligations may be established.
How will it work in this first stage?
Until the supreme decrees that establish the goals and other associated obligations for each priority product enter into force, the Ministry of the Environment may require producers to report annually, through a Declaration in the Pollutant Release and Transfer Register, the following:
- Number of priority products marketed in the country during the immediately preceding year.
- Collection, recovery and disposal activities carried out during the same period and their cost.
- Quantity of waste collected, recovered and disposed of during the same period.
- Indicate whether the management of collection and recovery activities is individual or collective.
Finally, this declaration must be made by all Producers of Priority Products considered in the REP Law that generate more than 300 KG of packaging waste per year.
This law requires a series of regulations for its full implementation, which are not only limited to the determination of collection and revaluation goals, but also extend to procedural aspects of the law.
Today, the regulation that regulates the procedure for the elaboration of the Supreme Decrees established in Law 20.910 (DS 8/2017); the Regulation of the Recycling Fund (DS 7/2017); the Regulation that makes modifications to the PRTR (DS 31/2018) and the one that sets collection and recovery goals for Tires (DS 08/2019) are in force.
On the other hand, the Regulation that regulates the Transboundary Movement of Waste; and the Regulation for the modification to the General Ordinance of Urbanism and Construction to regulate a simplified procedure for obtaining building permits for reception and storage facilities of priority waste subject to Law 20,920 are in the public consultation stage.
The following are in the preparation stage: Supreme Decree establishing the simplified procedure for sanitary authorization of waste reception and storage facilities; Supreme Decree establishing collection and valorization goals and obligations associated with batteries (Res. Ex. 1422/2020 MMA); Supreme Decree establishing collection and valorization goals and obligations associated with electrical and electronic devices and batteries; and the Supreme Decree establishing collection and valorization goals and obligations associated with lubricating oils (Res. Ex. 801/2019 of the Ministry of Environment or “MMA”).
Finally, on March 10, 2021, the Comptroller General of the Republic took note of Supreme Decree No. 12 of June 8, 2020, which established the collection and recovery goals for Containers and Packaging.
More details at https://leyrep.cl/
To discuss the implications of the REP Law, please contact our Public Law and Regulated Markets and Corporate and Business teams:
Dafne Guerra | Senior Associate | dguerra@az.cl
Juan Pablo Vieira | Associate | jvieira@az.cl
Raimundo Busquet | Associate | rbusquet@az.cl
