Slovak Environment Agency (SEA)/Ministry of Environment of the Slovak Republic (MoE SR)

SEA - Directorate of Environmental Sciences - Department of Environmental Analyses and Assessment

MoE SR - Directorate of Circular Economy - Waste Management Department

Slovak Environment Agency, Tajovskeho 28, 975 90 Banska Bystrica, Slovak Republic

Ministry of Environment of the SR, Nam. L. Stura 1, 812 35 Bratislava, Slovak Republic

22 October 2024

22 October 2024

22 October 2024

The data are reported by packaging producers who meet their specified obligations individually as well as by producer responsibility organisations (hereinafter "economic operators") according to sect. 27(4) letter h) of Act No. 79/2015 Coll. to the MoE SR. Details on data reporting  are set out in sect. 15 of Decree of MoE SR No. 366/2015 Coll. The economic operators keep records on consumption of plastic carrier bags. They report summarized data to the MoE SR on an annual basis by 28 February of the following year.

The share of the free-riders in plastic packaging has been estimated for the reference year 2022 for the first time. Based on the results of the study: „Enhancement of statistical data quality in the field of plastic packaging waste in the SR‘s conditions“(SEA, 2024), the share of the plastic packaging placed on the market of the SR by free-riders in the field of plastic packaging was estimated at the level of 13 %.

Table : Institutions involved in the collection of data and distribution of tasks.

The R codes set in Annexes I of Directive 2008/98/EC are solely used.

The R codes set in Annexes I of Directive 2008/98/EC are solely used.

Not applicable.

According to sect. 52(11) of Act No. 75/2019 Coll. on waste, packaging producer means a sole trader or a legal person who:

• uses packaging for the packaging of goods or putting goods into packaging and places these goods on the market under his or her trade name or mark,
• is a person for whom goods are packaged or filled and under whose trade name or mark these goods are placed on the market,
• places on the market goods packaged in a manner other than referred to in a) or b) or transports goods in packaging or has goods in packaging transported across the state border of the Slovak Republic and places it on the market or for distribution in the Slovak Republic,
• as a distributor, delivers, for payment or free of charge, packaging to end-users to be used directly for packaging of goods,
• as a distributor, uses the packaging to package the distributed goods or part thereof, or fills the packaging with the distributed goods, or
• places packaging on the market, except persons supplying empty packaging to persons referred to in a), b), d) and e) or to a person who packages or fills the goods for a person referred to in b).

According to sect. 28(1) of Act No. 75/2019 Coll., responsible producer organization (PRO) means a legal person with registered office in the Slovak Republic established, owned and operated exclusively by producers of specified products with registered office in a Member State. In accordance with the authorisation granted, a PRO shall ensure, on the basis of a contract for the performance of the specified obligations, the performance of these obligations on behalf of the represented producers of specified products. The PRO shall not be operated for profit.

According to sect. 52(2) of Act No. 75/2019 Coll., packaging means a product used for the containment, protection, handling, delivery and presentation of goods, from raw materials to processed goods, from the producer to the user or the consumer, which meets the criteria listed in Annex 7; non-returnable items of packaging that are used for the same purposes shall also be considered to constitute packaging.

According to sect. 52(4) of Act No. 75/2019 Coll., consumer packaging means packaging conceived so as to provide immediate protection of goods or a group of goods, which constitute a sales unit to the end-user or consumer at the point of purchase.

According to sect. 52(7) of Act No. 75/2019 Coll., reusable packaging means packaging conceived, constructed and placed on the market of the Slovak Republic so as to accomplish within its life cycle a minimum of two trips or rotations, which is refilled or reused for the same purpose for which it was conceived, constructed and placed on the market of the Slovak Republic; such packaging will become packaging waste when no longer subject to reuse, specifically at the moment it is discarded.

In the SR, there are two types of packaging reuse systems in place:

• Legislatively regulated (by Act No 79/2015 Coll. on waste as amended and Decree of the MoE SR No 373/2015 Coll. on extended producer responsibility) systems for:
  • reusable beverage packaging up to and including 2,000 ml,
  • glass reusable beer containers with a non-crown cap,
  • reusable beverage packaging other than listed above (e.g. aluminium barrels).
• reuse systems on voluntary basis:
  • for plastic crates,
  • for wooden pallets.

The subjects obligated to report data on ruesable packaging have declared problems to count rotations in case of some packaging, mainly wooden or plastic packaging.

Other recovery means recovery by any activity R2 to R11 except recycling according to Annex No. 1 of the Act on Waste ( (Act No. 79/2015 Coll. as amended).

Not available.

• Enterprice - legal person, natural person - enterpreneur.
• Producer responsibilty organisation in the field of packaging.

Total packaging waste generated in the country.

Slovak Republic.

Data is available since the reference year 2003.

Not applicable.

Tonnes.

Calendar year.

Act No 79/2015 Coll. on waste and on amendments to certain acts as amended.

Decree of the MoE SR No 366/2015 Coll. on report keeping and reporting obligations as amended.

Act of the arliament of the SR No 17/1992 Coll. on the environment as amended.

Act of the Parliament of the SR No 205/2004 Coll. on the collection, storage and dissemination of information on the environment and on amendments to certain laws as amended.

European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Data are published in an aggregate form at national level.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Yearly.

Not applicable.

Reports on the state of the environment in the Slovak Republic.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Waste management information system - Register on producers of packaging: Information available at the ISOH website.

Enviroportal - information platform of the MoE SR for publishing outputs of information systems. It provides authorized and verified information on the environment in Slovakia, serves to users for a uniform access to information in environmental field. Information available at this website (Enviroportal).

Guidance on packaging waste (Eurostat, Version of 30 March 2023).

Collection and processing data on packaging and packaging waste was carried out in accordance with  Act No. 79/2015 Coll. on waste and on amendment and supplementation of certain acts as amended. European Parliament and Council Directive 94/62/EC .

Waste management information system - Register on producers of packaging: Information available at the ISOH website.

Enviroportal - information platform of the MoE SR for publishing outputs of information systems. It provides authorized and verified information on the environment in Slovakia, serves to users for a uniform access to information in environmental field. Information available at this website (Enviroportal).

Based on experience gained from ad-hoc or planned environmental inspections executed in the Slovak Republic, it has been detected that not all packaging producers have been covered by the EPR scheme which led to a correction in the numbers (Study on estimation of free-riding share in the field of plastic packaging producers in the Slovak Republic).

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

The main users are the following:

• MoE SR - drawing up waste management plan, waste prevention programme, funding schemes for development of waste treatment infrastructure.
• Ministry of Finance of the SR - calculation of the own resource based on plastic packaging waste non-recycled.
• Eurostat or Statistical Office of the SR - ensuring the requirements of the ESS or NSS at creation of statistics on the generation and management of waste.
• PROs - drawing up development plans.
• Regional self-governments - drawing up their integrated territorial strategies.

Data provided in the tables  has been compiled on the basis of data reported by packaging producers who met their specified obligations individually and producer responsibility  of the organisations established according to the national legislation.  Producers of packaging are obliged to report requiered data to the Ministry of Environment of the Slovak Republic on an annual basis. In case of any doubts about the correctness of submitted data the Ministry of Environment of the SR requests the producer responsible for the reported data to provide explanation and to correct data when necessary.

The information in this section is to provide an overarching understanding of the accuracy of any statistical surveys used relating to packaging waste. Some of the information may be available in previous questions.

The information in this section is to provide an overarching understanding of the accuracy of any statistical surveys used relating to packaging waste. Some of the information may be available in other concepts.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

16 months.

No delays compared to the target date when data should have been delivered.

Not applicable.

The statistics are comparable over time. 

The share of the free-riders in plastic packaging has been estimated for the reference year 2022 for the first time, compared to the previous periods.

Not applicable.

Statistics are consistent (mainly regarding packaging waste generation), but variations between two reference years can occur (usually regarding packaging waste treatment).

Explanation detailing the causes of the tonnage difference (in relation to which waste streams, sectors or estimates have caused the difference, and what the underlying cause is) for any component of packaging waste generated and recycled which shows greater than a 10 % variation from the data submitted for the previous data year.

Not applicable.

Data may be revised after reviewing the questionnaire by Eurostat.

Data can be revised under a request of Eurostat or based on own findings.

Collection and processing data on packaging and packaging waste was carried out in accordance with  Act No. 79/2015 Coll. on waste and on amendment and supplementation of certain acts as amended (hereinafter „Act No. 79/2015 Coll.“). European Parliament and Council Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste as amended was transposed by Act No. 79/2015 Coll. Act No. 79/2015 Coll. has established extended responsibility of producer of a specified product.  Extended producer responsibility means the sum of obligations of producer of a specified product that apply to this product throughout all stages of its life cycle, aimed at preventing waste, reinforcing reuse, recycling or other recovery of this waste stream. Extended producer responsibility scheme covers specified stream of packaging and packaging waste. Producer of a specified product, i. e. packaging producer ensures fulfilment of specified obligations by creating a system of individual management of a specified waste stream or by a system of collective management of a specified waste stream (“collectively”) through a producer responsibility organization.

Data for the reference year 2022 is compiled on the basis of data reported by packaging producers who meet their specified obligations individually and producer responsibility organisations established according to sect. 28 subsect. 1 of Act No. 79/2015 Coll. These organisations are authorised to carry out this activity.
Producer responsibility organisations keep records of packaging put on the market and of the fulfilment of binding limits for packaging waste recovery and recycling for those producers who are their clients, and report summarized data from the records to the Ministry of  Environment of the Slovak Republic.

With reference to Article 2 (2) of Commission Decision 2005/270/EC, determining the amount of packaging waste was based on the amount of packaging put on the market in the Slovak Republic in 2022. In accordance with Act No. 79/2015 Coll., the amount of packaging put on the market also includes the amount of reusable packaging, which were put on the market or into rotation. The amount of reusable packaging was accounted just once in the time of their first using.

The amount of recovered and recycled packaging waste was calculated on the basis of data reported by producers who met their specified obligations individually and producer responsibility organisations.

The total amount of recovered packaging waste consists of the amount of recycled packaging waste and the amount of packaging recovered by the activity R1 (use mainly as fuel or for energy obtaining in another way) at waste incineration plants with thermal energy use or recovered in facilities for waste co-incineration in the Slovak Republic.

The share of the free-riders in plastic packaging has been estimated for the reference year 2022 for the first time. Based on the results of the study: „Enhancement of statistical data quality in the field of plastic packaging waste in the SR‘s conditions“(SEA, 2024), the share of the plastic packaging placed on the market of the SR by free-riders in the field of plastic packaging was estimated at the level of 13 %.

The waste samples for waste analysis are taken from:

Annually.

More detailed information in the subchapters.

Waste analysis has not been used.

Composite packaging  is classified under the packaging waste material which dominates.

Additional information about the methodology, including the combination of methods used.

No survey for the purpose of gathering data on packaging waste generation and treatment has been conducted.

No survey has been conducted.

Calculation of recycling of metals from incinerator bottom ash : Detailed description of the method to collect data in order to calculate the amount of metals separated from incineration bottom ash in accordance with the Commission Implementing Act adopted in accordance with Article 37(7) of Directive 2008/98/EC.

More detailed information in the subchapters

The Waste Management Information System (ISOH) unifies and replaces some existing waste management information systems in the Slovak Republic (RISO, statistical survey on waste management by the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic, third party information systems), is a tool for controlling the fulfillment of specified collection limits; but also serves to fulfill the tasks and obligations arising from the special legal regulations or international obligations of the Slovak Republic in this area. ISOH serves also for the continuous monitoring of the fulfillment of the objectives set out in the Waste Management Program of the Slovak Republic and provides basic statistical data and reports. More information is available at the ISOH website.

In case of waste treatment outside the EU, a notification document has to provide information (in addition to information and documents relating to a notification pursuant to WSR) on:

• Chemical analysis of composition of waste in question,
• Description of treatment process, detailed description of individual recovery activities, description of the technological process in question (has to be in accordance with the applicable legislation in the field of waste management),
• Material balance of the waste recovery facility in question, input and output products from the recovery process, individual recovery or disposal activities, recovery rate (%),
• Type and period of validity of the permit under which the facility in question is operated,
• A copy of the contract with the facility where the subsequent non-preliminary recovery or disposal operation will be carried out in the case of a transboundary movement of waste for the purpose of carrying out a preliminary recovery or disposal operation.

The columns in the table relate to information on verification procedures used within the national statistical reporting system to validate the accuracy of the data.

The columns in the table relate to information on verification procedures used within the national statistical reporting system to validate the accuracy of the data.

More detailed information in the subchapters

Primary sources and their shares in the total.

(*) Necessity of a certain minimum amount of waste, turnover etc. to be registered.

Primary sources and their shares in the total.

(*) Necessity of a certain minimum amount of waste, turnover etc. to be registered.

Packaging waste generated estimated by waste analysis

The Slovak Republic has used approach 1.

The share of the free-riders in plastic packaging has been estimated for the reference year 2022 for the first time. Based on the results of the study: „Enhancement of statistical data quality in the field of plastic packaging waste in the SR‘s conditions“(SEA, 2024), the share of the plastic packaging placed on the market of the SR by free-riders in the field of plastic packaging was estimated at the level of 13 % (18 867,472 t).

The estimate of the PPW recycled by the free-riders was based on the recycling rate (59,6 %) determined on data provided by PROs and packaging producers - self-compliers for the reference year 2022.

Based on data provided by PROs/producers of packaging, the share of recycling according to the location of the recycling operation has been determined as follows:

• 69 % - recycling in the SR,
• 26 % - recycling in other MS,
• 5 % - recycling out of the EU.

According to sect. 57 para 3 of Act on Waste (Act No. 79/2015 Coll. as amended), the quantity of packaging waste taken over by a waste recovery installation shall be considered as the quantity of recovered packaging waste as long as the operational and technical measures in this installation ensure that the quantity of sorted packaging waste is passed to the process of recovery or recycling without significant losses.

Recovery of compostable packaging at biowaste treatment plants is not monitored.

According to the national legislation, composite packaging materials are included in the waste streams under predominant material, with the exception of card-board based composite packaging materials. 

Description of the sorted packaging waste to which ALRs are applied, types of sorting plants to which different ALRs apply, the methodological approach to calculating ALRs at such point(s), including the statistical accuracy of any surveys used, or the nature of any technical specifications.

More detailed information in the subchapters

Description, where applicable, of the methodology to exclude non-packaging waste from the reported amount of recycled packaging waste and of the methodology to correct the amount of packaging waste at the measurement point in order to reflect the natural humidity rate of packaging (including by using relevant European standards). Aggregated data across facilities of a similar type is acceptable.

Description of the methodology to exclude waste originating from other countries, where applicable. Aggregated data across facilities of a similar type is acceptable.

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