On the 2nd of September 2020, Polish Union of Plastics Converters submitted a request to the Lower Silesian Voivode with the claim of annulement of a resolution of the Wałbrzych City Council that prohibits the possession, use, share and sale of certain plastic products. "We hope that the Voivode will agree with our arguments and - as it happened in February - will repeal this entire document as a glaring example of discrimination against entrepreneurs and citizens. The resolution is in violation of Polish and EU regulations" says Robert Szyman, Director General of PUPC.

The ban on selling and possessing some plastic products introduced by Wałbrzych authorities is, according to the Polish Union of Plastic Converters, in violation of the  Polish Constitution, The Treaty on European Union, the Act on Packaging and Packaging Waste Management,  and The Act on Maintaining Cleanliness and Order in Municipalities. Moreover, it is extremely similar in content to the resolution adopted in Wałbrzych on January 30 this year, which the Voivode considered invalid on February 27. That decision was fully upheld by the Provincial Administrative Court.

"We are surprised that once again the authorities of Wałbrzych make the same mistakes and we expect that the new resolution, similar to the one from the beginning of the year, will be annuled. The municipal authorities cannot make local law, which forbids the possession and use of substances whose circulation and use is permitted by law of in the whole country. The resolution is illegal for strictly formal reasons " adds Robert Szyman.

PUPC  shares the motivation of the City Council and the Mayor of Wałbrzych regarding the fight for environmental protection, but considers the method of their implementation to be completely wrong. The entities associated in the Union are actively involved in environmental protection. They consistently support legislative activities at the national and EU level, aimed at strengthening the waste management system and radically increasing the level of plastic recycling towards a Circular Economy. This system is ineffective in Poland today, which is proved by the need for Polish companies to import regranulate, i.e. recycled material. Producers and processors of plastics are not opponents of local governments, but their partners in the development of investments and innovation.

The plastics processing industry in Poland consists of more than 7.5 thousand enterprises, mainly SMEs, which employ about 160 thousand people.

For more information, please contact : Robert Szyman and Maciej Powroźnik