Preparation of the Circular Economy Act is progressing in two stages: first, updates will be made to the current Waste Act, and in the next phase the Act will be comprehensively reformed into a Circular Economy Act. The draft government proposal now open for comments concerns the first stage.
The report of the Circular Economy Act working group proposed a broad range of measures, including both principled and system-level changes. In this consultation, progress regarding WEEE is, for now, more limited, and the structures of producer responsibility are not yet being addressed.
What the proposal includes:
- Improved opportunities for authorities to better target supervision and enforcement.
- Obligations to enhance sorting and separate collection.
- Expansion of distributors’ obligation to inform consumers.
The proposal states that sanctions linked to WEEE collection targets require further assessment regarding feasibility and legal constraints. Producer responsibility organizations have emphasized that they currently lack sufficient means to address free-riding and grey waste streams.
In the continued preparation of the Circular Economy Act during the next government term, it will be decided whether broader system reforms concerning WEEE and producer responsibility will also be considered.
The consultation period ends on April 30.
Read more:
Elker: Report of the Circular Economy Act working group published
Lausuntopalvelu.fi (in Finnish): Draft government proposal to Parliament to amend the Waste Act and Section 6 of the Act on the Grey Economy Information Unit
