Extended Producer Responsibility System to Be Introduced in Armenia

The Law on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) will soon be adopted in Armenia. This is an economic instrument that establishes a new management model for certain products and the waste generated from them. More specifically, it makes importers and producers responsible for the waste generated after the consumption of their products.

 

This was stated during a meeting in Metsamor by Harutyun Apetyan, expert, lecturer, and Program Manager at Acopian Center for the Environment of the American University of Armenia, who added: “The problem is that waste mostly ends up in landfills. There are recyclable wastes and hazardous wastes that must be properly treated or disposed of. Currently, there is no mechanism to cover these costs, which is why such waste ends up in landfills. Even the processing of recyclable waste is costly. This creates an economic gap, which should be addressed through the Extended Producer Responsibility mechanism. In other words, producers will pay for the waste generated from their products, ensuring that it is recycled instead of being disposed of in landfills.”

 

It should be noted that Acopian Center of the American University of Armenia is implementing "Waste Policy in Armenia” program with the support of Sweden. Within this framework, technical assistance is being provided to RA Ministry of Environment, which acts as the authorized body for the implementation of EPR legislation.

 

Within the four-year program on waste management policy in Armenia, “EcoLur” NGO is conducting awareness-raising activities on the introduction of the EPR system, as Victoria Burnazyan, Deputy President of “EcoLur” informed during the meeting in Metsamor.

 

According to Victoria Burnazyan, companies that will assume responsibility for waste sorting and recycling will establish Producer Responsibility Organizations (PROs). These companies will pay fees to such organizations, which will then manage the entire process - including awareness-raising, cooperation with municipalities, or outsourcing the work to other companies for implementation.