Sharing EPR knowledge far and wide

The German-MENA University Network, which is sponsored by PREVENT Waste Alliance, is a collaborative network established by three German universities – University of Rostock, Technical University of Dresden, and Hamburg University of Technology – plus four partner universities in Morocco, Algeria, Egypt and Jordan.

The 18-month project aims to share practical experience by providing courses on state-of-the-art technologies and offers a comprehensive online-based teaching programme about waste management and the circular economy. The project will help the target countries to train qualified staff in the political, regulatory, municipal and private sectors.

Within this framework, Dr. Thomas Fischer, Head of Market Intelligence & Governmental Affairs at Landbell Group, contributed a guest lecture “Case Study: EPR and packaging recycling” on 14^th April 2022. The three-hour lecture covered the following topics:

• general introduction to extended producer responsibility (EPR)
• common EPR compliance options
• material and financial flows in collective EPR solutions (PRO setup)
• typical producer obligations
• EPR fee calculation
• typical operational processes for packaging in Germany, and
• alternative financing models

The lecture also included a review of 25 years of experience with EPR in Europe, then concluded with a look ahead to European initiatives to improve EPR, such as introducing EPR fee modulation.

This semester, the initiative invited students and waste managers from Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Tunisia to attend the lectures in addition to those from the partner universities in Algeria, Egypt, Jordan and Morocco.

More information on the German-MENA University Network can be found on the PREVENT Waste Alliance website.