Economic and Fiscal Measures to Reduce Packaging Waste: Taxes and Incentives

public
Thu, May 12 2022
Asia/Bangkok: 2:00 - 4:00pm
Asia/Jakarta: 2:00 - 4:00pm
Asia/Kuala_Lumpur: 3:00 - 5:00pm
Europe/Berlin: 9:00 - 11:00am
ONLINE EVENT

Banner 12 May 2022

Increasing urbanization & incomes and changing lifestyles have spurred an enormous increase in the use of single-use-plastics and packaging. In Southeast Asia, most of the plastic waste is still either disposed in the environment, uncontrolled dumpsites, landfilled or incinerated. Such practices lead to wastage of primary resources, pollution and littering. Thus, plastic waste is one of the major challenges faced by countries in Southeast Asia.

While countries in Southeast Asia continue to ponder about the policies and investments to improve waste management measures, such as better collection, segregation, sorting and recycling, there is still little debate on reducing the overall consumption of plastics in the economy and incentivize widespread reuse of plastics. It is clear that current macroeconomic conditions are not ideal to lead this transformation. In this regard, discussion on economic and fiscal measures, such as taxes and levies, to restrict the use of single-use-plastics and packaging and trigger plastic consumption reduction & reuse, has been gaining pace. While the debate is still in early stages, few countries in Europe are beginning to implement specific economic & fiscal measures to curb plastic consumption. Many questions are still to be answered, e.g. at which stage of the plastic value chain taxes should be implemented effectively, how should taxes and levies be embedded in the overall policy landscape, what should be the ambition level of such instruments in order to gain acceptance in the society as well as trigger transformative changes. The Öko-Institut has compiled a list of economic and fiscal measures for single-use plastic and packaging reduction in a pre-study which is available here. The pre-study gives specific examples of the implementation of these measures, and provides a collection of lessons-learnt and key considerations for a successful implementation.

In the last webinar of this series, we will hear examples of implementing economic & fiscal measures for single-use plastic & packaging reduction at the national level in Germany and other European countries. Furthermore, we will hear about the ongoing debate and current measures in Thailand and discuss on the opportunities and challenges for upscaling such measures at the national level.

The dialogue series is part of the project “Collaborative Action to Reduce Single-Use Plastic in South-East Asia (CAP SEA)”, which is part of a global project “Export Initiative for Green Technologies” commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV).

Agenda

BKK & Jakarta Time

Activity

14.00 – 14.10

Greetings and Welcome remarks

  •  Nilgün Parker, Head of Unit Sustainable financial policy, environmental and foreign trade promotion”, German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV)

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    Ms Sandra Spieß, Head of Section Environmental Policies, Biodiversity, Forests” Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH 

14.10 – 14.15

Introduction to CAP SEA and the Dialogue Series
Christoffer Brick, Project Lead, CAP SEA, GIZ

14.15 – 14.30

Experience of the City of Tübingen with the Introduction of a Tax on Single-use Plastic
Tobias Staufenberg, Environmental and Climate Protection Unit, University City of Tübingen

14.30 – 14.45

Experiences from Germany - Fiscal and Economic Policy Measures for Sustainability

Nilgün Parker, Head of Unit “Sustainable financial policy, environmental and foreign trade promotion”, German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV)

14.45 – 15.00

 Q & A

15.00 – 15.15

”Plastic Tax” in Italy
Dott. Gianluca Bertazzoli, Amministratore Unico, Hub15, Mailand, Italy

15.15 – 15.30

Application of Economic Incentives for the Single-Use Plastics Problem in Thailand: Challenges and Opportunities

Saengroj Srisawaskraisorn, Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) Advisor

15.30 – 15.50

Q & A

15.50  16.00

Wrap Up and Closing by the Moderator