Supporting Responsible Production and Consumption in Georgia

Press release

TBILISI.  July 5 2017 – Sustainable waste management is the focus of a new initiative kicked off by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Protection of Georgia and the non-governmental organization Georgia’s Environmental Outlook (GEO), with the support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Government of Sweden.

The presentation of the project on July 5, 2017 brought together representatives of the Georgian Government, civil society, businesses and chambers of commerce.

Niels Scott, Head of UNDP in Georgia; Ekaterine Grigalava, Deputy Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Protection of Georgia, and Khatuna Gogaladze, Founder of Georgia’s Environmental Outlook (GEO), addressed the participants of the meeting with welcome remarks.

With up to 140 thousand USD in Swedish Government finding, the new initiative is assisting Georgia to introduce the concept of Extended Producers Responsibility (EPR), which obliges producers and sellers of a product to make sure that no negative environmental impacts take place once the product is consumed or disposed.

In addition, the project will help develop a bylaw for managing the ‘e-waste’ – Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) in Georgia. The Extended Producers Responsibility (EPR) is part of the waste Management Code of Georgia adopted in 2014, which is set to be implemented in Georgia in December 2019. Until then, the country has to prepare the legal environment for implementing the code and carry out an information campaign to raise awareness in the public and private sectors.