The Commission of Natural Resources and Conservation of the Human Environment of the Chamber of Deputies issued a favorable opinion to the project that promotes an ecological management of packaging throughout the country to reduce its impact on the environment and also on the population that is dedicated to its recycled, it was officially reported.
The decision was adopted at a committee meeting -chaired by the deputy of the Frente de Todos Leonardo Grosso- in which representatives of the Federation of Cartoneros and the industry presented their objections to the creation of a tax and the new regulations. .
One of the central points is the creation of an environmental tax that will be paid by the producers responsible for the containers placed on the market and the generation of their own collection and reuse system.
The dispatch – which will be dealt with this Wednesday in the Budget and Finance committee – was supported by the Frente de Todos but questioned by Together for Change, which presented a minority opinion.
The initiative promoted by the Executive Power aims to promote the management of packaging throughout the national territory, prevent and reduce its impact on the environment and people’s health and promote the responsibility of producers in management.
One of the central points is the creation of an environmental tax that will be paid by the producers responsible for the containers placed on the market and the generation of their own collection and reuse system.
With the proceeds from the payment of this fee, a trust will be created, administered by the public bank that will serve to strengthen public packaging management systems, promote the inclusion of recyclers, promote the recovery of packaging and promote development. ecodesign, among other objectives.
Opening the debate, Grosso said that “it is a law that we have tried to push many times in this Congress” and complained in the debate that “there are more defenders of the industry than of the waste picker workers”
The Deputy Minister of the Environment, Sergio Federovisky, assured that the project promoted by the Government “is a synthesis” of initiatives previously presented and highlighted the will of the Executive Power that environmental management be a State policy.
“When we talk about packaging or extended producer responsibility, we intend to show that our intention is to create an environmental state policy,” he said.
He added that the project seeks to “combat the scourge of 5,000 open dumps, which is a fault that the governments of the last 20 years have to blame.”
The secretary of the Argentine Federation of Cartoneros cartoneros and recyclers, Jacki Flores, celebrated that they have been summoned to participate in the commission meeting and said that their presence in the enclosure is a consequence of “many years of struggle.”
“The fact that the law of packaging with social inclusion has arrived makes us think that this hope that we built many years ago had a reason to exist. With this law we dignify our work,” he said.
For his part, Federico Fagioli, author of the project, stressed that “social inclusion does not have to be a slogan, but a real one, with investments in local recycling systems” and said that the law that is being approved “is fundamental and has an integral character “.
“We cannot advance in any type of policy that does not contemplate the environmental agenda,” he added.
Explaining the criticisms of Together for Change, the radical Brenda Austin anticipated that they will accompany a minority opinion drawn up by her Gustavo Menna, and questioned the creation of a tax on understanding that “there are sectors that prefer to pay this new tax that promotes the creation of of this opinion rather than actually committing to a comprehensive management responsibility that implies compliance with this hierarchy of options. “
For his part, Menna said that “the project goes against the world trend” and cited the case of Hungary, which, he said, “should abandon it due to recommendations from the European Union.”
“In our region, all the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean spoke out for adopting the scheme that we propose in file 851,” he declared.
In explaining the project, the Chief of the Cabinet for Environmental Control and Monitoring of the National Environment Ministry, Candela Nassi, affirmed that it is “a law of minimum budgets that focus on the management of packaging.”
“The project presupposes that all producers generate their own packaging management processes or use local management processes. This is the first project that considers packaging management with a logic of social inclusion ”, added Nassi.
In turn, the manager of the Argentine Chamber of the Plastic Industry. Sergio Hilbrecht, affirmed that “many of the plastic waste end up deposited in open dumps or inappropriate places”.
