An important step for the circular economy: After ten years of compliance consulting for WEEE and batteries, the largest European network for Extended Producer Responsibility PRONEXA (formerly weee EUROPE) has realigned itself. From 2025, PRONEXA has expand its service offering to include packaging. This coincides with the reform of the PPWR.
Five million tonnes of e-waste and battery waste in Europe are accompanied by many millions of tonnes of packaging waste every year. It is not just a question of reducing waste and returning valuable resources to the cycle and making Europe less dependent on raw material imports when it comes to WEEE and batteries. Manufacturers will soon be held more accountable when it comes to packaging: The “Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation” (PPWR) was subjected to a reform with the resolutions of the EU Parliament and EU Council on December 16th, 2024, which is a further step on Europe’s path towards a circular economy and waste prevention as part of the Green Deal. The new regulations focus more strongly than before on the entire value chain. For manufacturing companies, this means a considerable reorganisation of production processes with targets for eco-design and the use of recycled materials as well as extensive information obligations.
Elker has been a member of the network for years
Elker is one of the 19 leading non-profit producer responsibility experts in Europe that joined forces in 2014 to establish the consultancy company PRONEXA AG (formerly weee EUROPE AG). “We are pleased that, in addition to electrical and electronic equipment as well as batteries and accumulators, Pronexa now also supports companies in fulfilling their packaging producer responsibility obligations. After all, packaging is a part of every electrical device,” says Tuomas Räsänen, CEO of Elker.
Producer responsibility managed through a one-stop shop in Europe
“Producer responsibility implementation varies significantly from country to country,” says PRONEXA CEO Christian Ludwig. “We support companies – importers, manufacturers, and online retailers – in fulfilling their obligations in accordance with each country’s legislation, including when the PPWR is transposed into national laws across Europe.” PRONEXA sees itself as an internal consultant for cooperating public service providers. It handles initial analyses and consulting, contract management, product allocation, and quantity reporting via the centralized PRONEXA® Customer Data Management reporting platform, currently operating in 30 countries.
Local expertise at the European level
The company’s original name, weee EUROPE, symbolized its focus on waste electrical and electronic equipment. PRO stands for producer responsibility organizations, and NEXA for their network. Together, they form the largest entity maintaining Europe’s most extensive take-back and recycling infrastructure for electrical devices and batteries. PRONEXA’s network of producer responsibility organizations manages over 100,000 collection points across Europe and collects and recycles approximately 2.5 million tonnes of WEEE annually — over 50% of Europe’s total.
Read more: Taking care of producer responsibility in Europe
