Thanks to the position taken by Polish Plastics Converters Association and KOEKO (Coalition for Ecological Packaging), communicated to the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Ministry of Economy, the introduction as of 2010 of a recycling fee for plastic bags in the amount of PLN 0.40 per item has been successfully avoided. The initial Draft Bill on the Packaging and Packaging Waste Management envisaged that such a fee shall be charged on all non-biodegradable bags made from plastics, intended for packaging of products in retail and wholesale outlets and used for carrying these products.

Thanks to our actions the Ministries have undertaken to carry out independent scientific analyses with the “carbon footprint” as the main indicator to determine the impact of bags on environment in a whole life cycle and to make the amount of recycling fee contingent upon the obtained results.

However the most spectacular effect of our action is the extension of “vacatio legis” for the provisions concerning plastic bags until 2015, i.e. extending by five years the interim period for bags producers.

Below we make available for your disposal the Draft Bill on the Packaging and Packaging Waste Management in the current wording. The problem of plastic bags and relevant recycling fee is brought up in Article 3 items 23, 44, 45, 64 and 85.

Sharing our success, we encourage you to support the Association in its further activities for the rational attitude towards plastics and waste.