In a debate article in GP on 28 October, Anders G Johansson, Fastighetsägarna, expresses a desire for the Environmental Protection Agency to correct the compensation levels for packaging collection, so that municipalities and property owners do not have to bear the costs of introducing kerb side collection.
It is true that it is companies with producer responsibility that must finance the collection of the packaging that they put on the market, that is part of producer responsibility and in itself nothing new. What is new is that it is now the municipalities’ responsibility to collect packaging from households and co-located businesses, and that it must be done close to the property of all Swedish households by 2027 at the latest.
Efficiency and level of ambition
The financing of the municipal collection is regulated by the compensation model developed by the producers together with the municipalities’ trade association Avfall Sverige. The compensation model determines the compensation from producers to municipalities, and in the long term the collection reform will essentially be cost-neutral for the municipalities, just as Johansson thinks it should be. However, the costs for households, or property owners, primarily depend on the municipality’s efficiency and level of ambition for the collection. The costs that the municipalities do not have coverage for, they have the right to collect from the waste tax.
Johansson argues that the compensation to the municipalities is insufficient. However, there are municipalities where the compensation covers incurred costs. According to Villaägarna, roughly 60 municipalities have lowered the waste tax and a further 40 municipalities have left it unchanged after taking over collection responsibility from the producers. The municipalities now have a unified responsibility for waste, which should lead to coordination gains and a more cost-effective collection.
It is easy to argue that the agreed compensation model does not cover the needs, but it is important to be aware of what it means and how it is supposed to work. From the Environmental Protection Agency’s compensation regulations, it is clear that the municipalities receive compensation for costs related to packaging collection, including the acquisition of vehicles and containers. However, costs for adaptation of buildings and infrastructure are not included, it is the property owner’s responsibility to arrange and pay for suitable spaces.
There must be limits to producer responsibility and it should be in everyone’s interests – property owners, producers, municipalities, tenants and consumers – that the demands on the extent of the collection system are reasonable in relation to the environmental benefit and that the implementation is cost-effective. Here, municipalities and others involved need to cooperate, coordinate and learn from each other to ensure economically and environmentally sustainable solutions going forward.
Henrik Nilsson, head of Business Development & Public Relations, Näringslivets Producentansvar