It will be easier to sort waste. Special symbols will appear

A waste segregation system has been in place in Poland for years, which in practice means that we should place waste in specific containers. Currently, there are five different garbage containers in force in our country:

• Yellow containers – metals and plastics,

• Blue containers – paper,

• Green containers – glass,

• Brown containers – bio-waste

• Gray containers – mixed waste.

A new container will appear at the beginning of next year. From January 2025 – in connection with the EU directive – all municipalities in Poland will be obliged to install a sixth container to collect used clothing and textiles.

There are many people who have problems with segregation and admit that if they happen to put a product or packaging in the wrong container, it is not due to malice or spite, but to a lack of knowledge. There are also situations when a container that may seem natural for a specific product/packaging turns out to be incorrect (a prime example is a milk carton, which, although covered with cardboard on the outside, also has plastic or metal elements inside, so it should end up in yellow container).

In 2020, the Ministry of Climate and Environment announced help for people who have problems with waste segregation. Representatives of the ministry informed about the commencement of work on regulations providing for clear information on product packaging as to which container the packaging/product should go to. – The Ministry of Climate wants the packaging of products sold in stores to include clear information on which container the packaging or the product contained in it should be thrown into – said the then deputy head of the ministry, Jacek Ozdoba, in an interview with the Polish Press Agency.

Ministry of simplification of waste sorting

The editorial team of “Wprost” asked the ministry what is happening in this matter. Representatives of the ministry inform that a preliminary agreement has been reached in the European Union regarding the so-called PPWR (Plastic and Paper Waste Resolution). The PPWR takes the form of a regulation which, once adopted as a binding legislative act, will apply in its entirety throughout the European Union. To make it easier for consumers to sort packaging waste, PPWR will introduce a system of harmonized symbols that will be placed on both packaging and waste containers. – our editorial office is informed by the press office of the Ministry of Climate and Environment.

– The Presidency of the Council and representatives of the European Parliament reached a provisional political agreement on the PPWR on 4 March 2024. The PPWR compromise text was approved at the meeting of the Permanent Representatives Committee on March 15, 2024, and on April 24, 2024, an interim agreement was adopted by a large majority of votes at the plenary session of the European Parliament – he adds.

According to the ministry, the next step is legal and linguistic verification. Later, the European Parliament will have to approve the text of the PPWR once again by vote, followed by a vote in the Council.