Commencement notices of legislation concerning producer responsibility scheme on glass beverage containers gazetted
******************************************************************************************
The Legislative Council passed the Product Eco-responsibility (Regulated Articles) Regulation on November 3 to provide for the operational details of the GPRS.
According to the notices, the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) will start accepting registration of suppliers and applications for exemptions and container waste disposal licences on February 1, 2023, and implement the GPRS fully on May 1, 2023.
Starting from May 1, 2023, any person who distributes glass-bottled beverages in Hong Kong must first register with the EPD as a registered supplier. A registered supplier must fulfil its statutory obligations, including submission of returns, keeping records relating to the returns, payment of container recycling levies, submission of annual audit reports, and so on.
Starting from the same day, any person who stores, treats, reprocesses or recycles glass container waste must obtain a waste disposal licence, and any person who imports or exports such waste must obtain a relevant permit.
A Government spokesman said, "The GPRS aims to put in place a system for the proper management and recycling of waste glass beverage containers generated in Hong Kong, in line with the polluter-pays principle and the vision of shared eco-responsibility. The EPD will hold briefings in the first quarter of 2023 for the relevant suppliers to enable them to better understand their statutory obligations and assist the trade in making applications for registration as registered suppliers and submission of container waste reduction plans for the applications of exemptions."
The three notices, namely the Promotion of Recycling and Proper Disposal (Product Container) (Amendment) Ordinance 2016 (Commencement) Notice, the Product Eco-Responsibility (Regulated Articles) Regulation (Commencement) Notice and the Waste Disposal Ordinance (Application of Section 16) Notice 2022, will be tabled at the Legislative Council on November 16.
Ends/Friday, November 11, 2022
Issued at HKT 11:03
Issued at HKT 11:03
NNNN