The paper was presented at the International Logistics Conference “Logistics 2002 – Flexible supply chains – concepts, experiences, challenges”. Poznań, May 14-15, 2002.
Systemic disposal of municipal and packaging waste, aimed at achieving optimal solutions from a technical, economic, and organizational perspective, requires cooperation in the fields of logistics and ecology.
In creating these systems, educating the public and convincing them to take appropriate actions in the public interest is not always sufficient. Often, legal regulations are also necessary, creating specific barriers and obstacles to eliminate, or at least limit, improper conduct, as well as defining the scope of responsibility and sanctions for non-compliance with the rules set out in legal regulations.
Such regulations have been in force in Poland since the turn of 2001/2002 and cover several legal acts concerning waste management. These acts, consistent with European Union directives, include:
• the Waste Act,
• the Act on Packaging and Packaging Waste, hereinafter referred to as the Packaging Act,
• the Act on the Obligations of Entrepreneurs Regarding the Management of Certain Waste and on the Product and Deposit Fee, hereinafter referred to as the Obligations Act, and furthermore, the significantly amended Act on Maintaining Cleanliness and Order in Municipalities. These acts are closely linked to the Environmental Protection Law and the general act, which contains the fundamental principles and rules common to all elements of the environment.
The vast majority of the regulations and legal solutions introduced in the new system are completely new in the Polish context. However, this does not mean that these issues were entirely absent from our country’s ecological practice or the activities of enterprises. Individual links in the logistics chain of production, distribution, use, and disposal of packaging had already undertaken a number of actions and assumed responsibility for preventing waste generation.
In Poland, activities related to packaging and packaging waste management had previously consisted largely of the voluntary adoption of certain schemes applicable mainly in European Union countries and were only supported to a limited extent by the solutions contained in the “old” Waste Act of June 27, 1997.
The implementation of the “waste” package of acts sanctioned existing activities, giving them a legal basis, while in many cases the scope of responsibility was significantly expanded. Also, some concepts and actions were defined more clearly.
Thus, in light of the current acts, the individual links of the logistics chain and the scope of responsibility assumed by them, as shown in Fig. 1, can now be defined much more concretely, along with the indication of the relevant legal acts.
A detailed discussion of the above-mentioned obligations is presented, among others, in study [9]. Regardless of these obligations, all indicated participants in the packaging logistics chain are subject to the provisions resulting from the Waste Act related to waste management, in particular regarding the possession of appropriate permits (e.g., pursuant to Art. 11 and Art. 16(3) of the Packaging Act).
The above scheme shows that manufacturers of packaging materials were not covered by the obligations. Nevertheless, relevant obligations also apply to them due to their cooperation with packaging manufacturers, who are obliged to use materials that meet legal requirements in subsequent stages of production and use. It is also worth noting that production waste, the so-called “own waste” generated during the production of packaging materials and packaging, is not covered by the obligations regarding packaging. It is, however, covered by the provisions resulting from the Waste Act.
In the new Waste Act, all activities related to waste that has already been generated and whose generation could not be avoided are defined as waste management. This term is understood as the collection, transport, recovery, and disposal of waste, as well as the supervision of these activities and the sites of waste disposal. In the context of other “waste” acts, all activities related to recovery, consisting of the use of waste in whole or in part, or leading to the recovery of substances, materials, or energy from waste, take on special significance. Furthermore, the legislator has treated selected forms of recovery defined as recycling in a special way. According to the Act, recycling is recovery that consists of the reprocessing of substances or materials contained in waste in order to obtain a substance or material for its original or other purpose. Composting or anaerobic treatment is considered recycling (so-called organic recycling). However, incineration with energy recovery is not considered recycling.
To further strengthen the effectiveness of recovery and recycling activities, the legislator has detailed the methods of handling certain products, and in particular packaging, so that it is possible to effectively collect and process them when they become waste.
These provisions are contained mainly in two acts: the Packaging Act and the Obligations Act. The Packaging Act directs obligations related to the proper preparation of packaging to packaging manufacturers and obliges them to design and use packaging in such a way that it is possible to reuse it, reduce the mass and volume of packaging, and limit the content of harmful substances. This act significantly supports all activities related to recycling.
The obligation to achieve specific levels of recovery and recycling is one of the most significant novelties of the system introduced by the Obligations Act. The addressees of these obligations are not, as in the Waste Act, those who generate waste, but entities that manufacture specific products or products in packaging from which waste will only be generated. Failure to comply with the obligation is associated with a financial sanction, i.e., the necessity to pay a product fee.
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