Management of packaging waste that is municipal waste

End-users – households must collect packaging waste, which is municipal waste, in dedicated containers and store it and hand it over to the public service operator, in accordance with the regulation governing the compulsory municipal public utility service for the collection of municipal waste.

Other end-users can send separately collected packaging waste generated as municipal waste from trade, industry, craft or service activities to a packaging waste management company.

Management of packaging waste other than municipal waste

Distributors and end-users must prepare packaging properly before submission, which means that each packaging fraction must be collected and emptied separately to ensure that it does not contain residual substances. Packaging that is not properly emptied and contains residues of the substance shall be treated as residual packaging.

Properly emptied waste packaging means that it is drip-free, free from leakage, dust, clunking and no visible residue, except for the inevitable layer on the packaging itself, with no dried residue at the bottom. Residue fraction or impurities shall not exceed 5% of the total amount of the separately collected fraction of packaging waste collected.

Other provisions:

• Packaging waste that is not municipal waste may not be handed over to the public service operator as mixed municipal waste or as a separately collected fraction of municipal waste.
• The end-user must return non-municipal packaging waste to the distributor or hand it over to a packaging waste management company .
• The end-user may leave non-municipal packaging waste generated in the course of a commercial or service activity with a public service operator in accordance with the regulation governing the compulsory municipal public service for the collection of municipal waste.
• In the case referred to in the preceding paragraph, the end-user who is a catering or tourism operator with a capacity of 5 000 overnight stays or more per year shall itself provide special containers in which it shall leave the separately collected fractions with the public service operator separately from the waste of other municipal waste producers.
• Until such time as it is disposed of, released or returned in accordance with this Regulation, the end-user shall keep packaging waste which is not municipal waste separate so that it does not mix with other waste and so that it can be collected and reused, recovered or disposed of in accordance with the rules governing the management of waste.

Management of packaging waste that is hazardous waste

Packaging waste is classified as hazardous waste if the packaging material has the characteristics of hazardous waste, if the packaging waste contains residues of or is contaminated with hazardous goods.

Packaging waste shall be considered free from residues of, or contamination by, dangerous goods if:

• the inside of the packaging waste of a viscous dangerous good scraped off with a spatula or brush so that the remaining quantity of the good is no longer usable,
• the packaging waste of a liquid dangerous good is emptied so that it does not drip, o the packaging waste of a solid dangerous good is emptied so that no residues of that good can be shaken out, or
• the waste packaging with the expelled gas no longer emits expelled gas or no residues of dangerous goods are circulating in the packaging.

Notwithstanding the preceding paragraph, where the packaging of dangerous goods is accompanied by instructions from the manufacturer of those goods on the environmentally safe emptying of the packaging, that packaging shall, if emptied in accordance with those instructions, be deemed to be free from residues of, or contamination by, dangerous goods.

The end-user must dispose of packaging waste that is hazardous waste:

• be handed over to a hazardous waste collector in accordance with the waste regulations, if the packaging waste is non-municipal waste,
• to be handed over to a public service operator in accordance with the regulation governing the compulsory municipal public service for the collection of municipal waste, if the packaging waste is municipal waste.
• the provisions of the preceding paragraph shall not apply where the release or disposal of packaging waste containing or contaminated with residues of dangerous goods is regulated by a specific regulation.

The end-user, who is an individual, disposes of WEEE from households:

1. to the public service operator:
   1. at the collection centre,
   2. in a mobile collection facility for hazardous fractions if the WEEE is very small household WEEE, or
2. to the collector at the collection point,
3. to the distributor at its point of sale or collection, if the WEEE is the same as the delivered WEEE in terms of intended use and WEEE class classification, and the number of pieces of WEEE is the same as the number of pieces of delivered WEEE. The exception is lamps, which can be handed over to the distributor without the obligation to buy new lamps.

The end-user, who is a legal person, a sole trader or an individual self-employed, delivers WEEE from households to a collector. The end-user shall hand over the non-household WEEE to a collector.

The end-user shall, before disposing of or transferring WEEE, keep it separately so that it is not mixed with other waste, damaged or contaminated by hazardous or other substances and its reuse or recovery is not prevented or not feasible except at disproportionately high cost.

Where WEEE contains substances or materials which, before being dismantled, must be disposed of in accordance with the rules governing the disposal of those substances or materials, the end-user shall ensure that the WEEE is in such a condition at the time of its release or disposal that the disposal of those substances or materials can be carried out in a prescribed and safe manner.

If WEEE from households is damaged to such an extent that it poses a risk to the environment and human health due to hazardous substances in it, is without important components, or is contaminated with other waste, the end-user can only hand it over to the public service operator at the collection centre.

WARNING! Electronic waste such as gas lamps, televisions, LCD screens, fridges, chests contain substances that are harmful to human health and the environment!

The end-user shall not leave waste portable batteries and accumulators with the public service operator as mixed municipal waste.

End-user waste portable batteries and accumulators:

• leaves it up to the distributor of portable batteries and accumulators,
• left with the public service operator in collection centres for separately collected fractions of municipal waste or in mobile collection facilities for separately collected hazardous fractions of municipal waste, or
• handing over to a collector of waste portable batteries and accumulators.

The distributor shall take back waste portable batteries and accumulators free of charge at the point of sale from any end-user to whom he wishes to hand them over, even if the end-user is handing over waste portable batteries or accumulators from a manufacturer other than the manufacturer of the portable batteries and accumulators sold by the distributor at his point of sale, or if the end-user has no intention of purchasing portable batteries or accumulators.

Automotive and Industrial batteries are either left with distributors or handed over to authorised collectors.

WARNING! Waste batteries contain heavy metals (lead, cadmium, mercury, etc.) and other hazardous substances (acids) which, if not handled properly, can harm human health and the environment!

Waste tombstone candles are collected separately and temporarily stored on or next to the cemetery as a separate fraction of municipal waste in dedicated containers and left with the public collection service provider separately from other waste from the cemetery.

Waste tombstone candles must not be crushed, compacted, contaminated or mixed with other waste.