Chile: the first targets decree under the REP law — tyres from 2021, full effect from 2023

On 20 January 2021 Chile published in the Diario Oficial decree DS 8/2019, which sets annual collection and recovery targets for end-of-life tyres (NFU) for producers and importers. It was the first targets decree issued under the law on extended producer responsibility (REP, No. 20.920), and full entry into force of the text was set for 20 January 2023.

How REP works

The REP law covers six priority products: tyres, lubricating oils, cells (pilas), batteries (baterías), electrical and electronic equipment, and packaging (envases y embalajes). Producers and importers of such products must organise a collection and recovery system, financing it, and meet the quantitative targets set by decrees for each category. For this purpose they usually create collective systems (managed by producer responsibility organisations).

The tyre decree

DS 8/2019 is the first to introduce annual collection and recovery targets. Tyres are a good starting point: they have a large mass, are easy to identify, and there are uses for the recovered materials (e.g. in the cement industry, in road surfacing and as granulate). The targets rise over time, which is meant to build collection and processing capacity.

Packaging and other categories

Decree DS 12/2020 regulates the targets for packaging, and the ministry was preparing further decrees for the remaining products. For the highest-volume categories, such as packaging, this matters for the organic fraction, because separate collection of packaging reduces contamination of biowaste.

Link to biogas and biowaste

The REP law does not directly concern biowaste, but better separate collection and cleaner waste streams affect the quality of substrates for composting plants and biogas plants. Biowaste, outside the REP system, remains the responsibility of municipalities and national waste policy.

Implementation challenges

The effectiveness of REP depends on enforcing obligations on producers and importers, on a register of those placing products on the market, and on the capacity of the processing market to take in the collected tyres. This takes time, which is why the decrees provide for transition periods and a gradual tightening of targets.

What this means for Poland and Europe

Polish plans to introduce extended producer responsibility systems for packaging and other categories can draw on Chile's experience: phased targets decrees, a governance system and a register of producers, and gradual tightening of targets.