Getting ready for the recycling participation fee

Cemre Arslan

Through the Law no. 7153 published in the Official Gazette dated 10 December 2018, articles regarding the implementation of recycling participation fee, deposit and plastic bag fee have been added into the Environment Law No. 2872. The products within the scope of the recycling participation fee and the fees to be applied per unit are set with the list no (1) attached to the same Law. Accordingly, various products such as plastic bags, packaging, rubber, battery, oil, medicine and electronic goods are included in the scope of recycling participation fee.

 

The procedure and principles regarding the charging of plastic bags have been announced with the approval of the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization dated 25 December 2018. Procedure and principles on the declaration and collection of the recycling fee to be paid for the plastic bags from the products indicated in the list no (1) attached to the Environment Law have been identified through the General Communique on Recycling Participation Fee, published in the Official Gazette dated 4 April 2019. Pursuant to that, plastic bags are subject to a fee of 25 kurus called as the recycling participation fee and this amount is declared monthly by the corporate taxpayers.

 

For the other products covered in the list no (1), Draft Regulation on Recycling Participation, aimed at setting the principles and procedures for the implementation of recycling participation fee for these products was published on the website of the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization in May 2019.

 

The Informative Workshop on Amendments to the Environment Law was held at İstanbul Chamber of Commerce (ITO) on 19 June 2019. During the workshop, information was shared about recycling participation fee and the draft regulation and the questions of the participants were received. It was stated that the draft regulation was removed from the website of the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization, however any statement was not released on the effective date for the Regulation.

 

 

 

 

 

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