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The obligations on companies

The Cooperation Agreement imposes certain obligations on companies.

What are these obligations?

1. Prevention obligation
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   Any company which uses 10 tonnes of packaging or more in selling its products in Belgium has a legal obligation to submit a prevention plan to the Commission every 3 years.

   How to comply with this obligation?

   To comply with this prevention obligation, the company responsible for packaging must: 

   - individually submit a plan to the Commission (individual prevention plan)
   - join a prevention plan for its industry sector, if allowed by its trade association. 

2. Take-back obligation
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   - this is NOT the obligation to systematically take back the packaging around the products sold to your customers.

   - it IS the obligation on all responsibles for packaging to achieve the percentage rates of recycling and recovery imposed by the Cooperation Agreement in the case of packaging for which the company is responsible, that is for packaging which it has put on to the Belgian market.

   - What are these percentages? Find out more - Close
   
   

   	% in Belgium in 2012
   Recovery	85%
   Recycling	80%
   Paper/cardboard recycling	60%
   Plastic recycling	30%
   Wood recycling	15%
   Metal recycling	50%
   Glass recycling	60%

   
   
   

   - What is recycling and recovery? Find out more - Close
   
   

   What is recycling?
   A production process where waste is treated such that it can fulfil its original function (product recycling) or another function (material recycling).

   What is energy recovery?
   This is incineration with energy recovery.

   What is recovery?
   Recovery refers to a number of processes whereby an item of waste is given a useful function. Recycling and energy recovery are considered to be forms of recovery.

   And disposal?
   This is either incineration without energy recovery, or disposal to landfill.

3. Information obligation
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   The information obligation is the obligation on each responsible for packaging to inform the Commission annually of:

   - how it is meeting its take-back obligation
   - the amount of packaging for which it is responsible
   - the recycling and recovery percentages it has achieved