Chile’s route toward waste management and EPR

The "Waste Management, Extended Producer Responsibility and Recycling Promotion" Bill No 20.920, popularly known as "The Bill" or "REP Bill," emphasizes waste generation reduction and recycling promotion. It holds importers and producers financially responsible for properly managing the waste produced by goods sold on the domestic market. The goals of the Bill are to reduce waste creation and increase garbage reuse by up to 30%. By internalizing the costs and unfavorable externalities related to waste management.  

Moreover, another bill called the Bill of Natural Resources and Environment which aims to ensure that waste producers do not escape their responsibility for their waste. The Bill establishes the concept of "Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)," which requires importers and producers of specific goods designated as "priority products" to plan and finance the collection and treatment of the waste using a management system. 

Even though the Extended Producer Responsibility Act has been in effect since the middle of 2016, there are some provisions that, to be enforced, call for a competent authority to issue Supreme Decrees outlining the instruments intended to prevent waste production and advance its valuation. 

In 2022 the environment ministry of Chile released its biennial regulatory program, which includes plans to increase extended producer responsibility and put a special emphasis on information availability. There is no deadline for the government to disclose its Risk Assessment Resolution on the agenda. A period of 18 months was set forth by Supreme Decree 57/2021 on 9 February 2021 for the country to pass the resolution. 

The priority products covered by any supreme decree that establishes recollection objectives must be mentioned by it. This includes the classifications or subcategories it enforces, the recall objectives, the related duties, the producers it binds, and the limitations placed on an individual or collective management systems.