Day 21 - Santa and the re-use of Christmas Packaging Materials

Christmas times are known to be full of rustling gift wraps and glittery ribbons around the packages under the Christmas trees, not to mention all the protective coverings on the goods delivered as presents all around the world. Santa has been quite concerned about the fact that some of the packaging materials are not easily recycled and has been digging closely into the topic. As we are both the legal advisors of Mr. Clause and the Finnish Packaging Recycling Rinki, we could give Santa a calming answer to his wonderings.

Companies that are packing products in Finland or importing packaged products to Finland with a turnover of € 1 or more have a statutory producer responsibility for their packaging materials. As Korvatunturi is, as well know located in the Finnish Lapland, Santa’s operations fall under this definition and the revenue estimate for his operations is every year quite a sum as his market is the whole world.

A company with producer responsibility is obligated to arrange the collection and recycling of its packaging waste in its entirety and to bear the costs incurred from the operations. These obligations are stated in the Finnish Waste Act (646/2011). Santa has partnered up with all the other Finnish operators in the manufacturing businesses and has taken good care of filling his obligations.

The law also stipulates a producers' responsibility for the national targets and requirements for the recycling and reuse of packaging. These procedures are obligated to be implemented in Finland. For Santa’s part this won’t be a problem as he has an army of recycler elves taking care of the re-use matters during the spring after the most hectic season is over at Korvatunturi’s workshop. The purpose of the legislation is to reduce the amount of packaging waste, prevent environmental damage and prevent distortion of competition, these being valuable principles for Mr. Clause who likes to admire the beauty of the unique nature of our planet from his sleigh during the long hours of the Christmas night.