PARLIAMENT passed a revised version of the waste law on September 8 after the previous bill was returned to parliament by President Ivan Gašparovič on July 31. The deputies accepted the president’s objections and removed the proposed system of new fees for the Recycling Fund which opponents claimed would have increased prices of food and electrical appliances.
Gašparovič vetoed the bill after the National Association of Employers (RÚZ) asked him to not sign the first version passed by parliament. The president said the law, which would have expanded the number of manufacturers and importers obliged to pay contributions to the state’s Recycling Fund, would raise costs to manufacturers and exert pressure to increase prices to consumers, the SITA newswire wrote at the time of the veto.
The Recycling Fund claims that parliament’s action will now reduce the available resources for separation and recycling of waste. The fund is disappointed with the final form of the waste law, SITA reported. The Recycling Fund said that because of parliament’s refusal to pass the original waste law, "millions of euros will continue disappearing into private companies from the collected fees from citizens, while separated waste collection will be a loss-making proposition for towns and villages. Citizens will be disadvantaged as they will have to pay increased fees for waste collection”, wrote SITA, quoting the fund.
The Slovak Food Chamber claimed that the recycling fee that would have been paid for each packed foodstuff item would have increased annual costs of food producers by €14 million. The Recycling Fund said that the chamber’s statements about 10 percent increases in food prices were just lobbying and deception of the public. The fund added in its statement that the public should know that the frightening claims made about enormous price increases were nonsense. It said the proposed recycling fees were really symbolic, that the recycling fee for one plastic yoghurt cup would have been €0.000612, SITA reported.
