Law 20920. Establishment of a framework for waste management, extended producer responsibility and recycling.

In 2016, the Chilean Congress passed Law 20.920 to reduce waste generation and promote its reuse, recycling, and other types of recovery through the establishment of extended producer responsibility and other waste management instruments. Chile's Law 20.920 establishes a comprehensive framework for waste management in Chile through Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). While legislation was passed in 2016, practical implementation through regulations and enforcement only began in 2023, when the first mandatory collection targets came into force for packaging materials. The law represents Chile's first mandatory EPR system and aims to align waste management practices with OECD standards while promoting recycling and circular economy principles. 

To achieve these goals, law 20.920 establishes the following fundamental principles:

• “Polluter pays”: The waste generator is responsible for the waste and must internalise the costs and negative externalities associated with its management.
• Gradualism: The obligations to prevent waste generation and promote its reuse, recycling, and other types of recovery will be established or required progressively.
• Inclusion: A set of training, financing, and formalisation mechanisms and instruments aim to enable the full integration of “basic recyclers” in waste management.
• Hierarchy in waste management: Order of preference for waste management, which considers the prevention of waste generation as the first priority, followed by its reuse, recycling (all or only its components), and energy recovery. Therefore, waste elimination should be the last alternative.
• Competition: The operation of management systems should not threaten market competition.
• Participatory: Communities’ education, opinion, and involvement are necessary to prevent waste generation and promote its reuse, recycling, and other types of recovery.
• Precautionary: The lack of scientific certainty cannot be invoked to stop implementing measures to reduce the risk of damage to the environment and human health derived from waste management.
• Preventive: Actions or measures are established to change behaviour regarding the inputs and raw materials used in production or design processes and consumption. These actions or measures also aim to avoid waste generation or reduce its quantity and danger. 
• Responsibility of the waste generator: The generator's responsibility begins at the initial moment of waste generation and continues to its recovery or disposal ("cradle to grave"). 
• Transparency and publicity: Waste management will be carried out transparently. The community should have access to the relevant information.
• Traceability: Set of pre-established and self-sufficient procedures that allow knowing the quantities, location, and trajectory of waste or a batch of waste throughout the management chain.

Following law 20.920, all waste generators must deliver waste to an authorised manager for treatment. The authorised manager must handle the waste in an environmentally sound manner, applying the best available techniques and practices.

Regarding extended producer responsibility, article 9 of law 20.920 define it as a special regime of waste management, according to which the producers of priority products are responsible for the organisation and financing of the waste management of the mentioned products. The legislation targets six priority products: lubricating oils, electrical/electronic equipment, batteries, packaging, tires, and batteries. The law introduces a hierarchical approach to waste management, prioritising prevention, reuse, recycling and energy recovery over disposal. 

Key aspects include: 

• producers must register, organise and finance collection/treatment systems through individual or collective management schemes; 
• specific collection and recycling targets are set by product category; and 
• producers must meet associated obligations like consumer information and eco-design requirements. 

The law promotes inclusion of informal waste collectors ("recicladores de base") by requiring their certification and integration into formal management systems. 

Moreover, Article 8 specifically addresses waste imports/exports, stating that these must comply with the Basel Convention. The law also:

• Prohibits on imports of hazardous waste for disposal
• Allows imports of hazardous waste for recycling only if authorised by Ministry of Environment and handled by authorized waste managers
• Requires importers/exporters to report type, quantity, origin and treatment of waste through the Pollutant Release and Transfer Register
• Gives Ministry power to deny import/export authorisations if there's evidence waste won't be managed in an environmentally sound manner
• Requires a decree to establish requirements and procedures for waste import/export/transit authorisations, including associated guarantees

Enforcement responsibilities are shared between the Ministry of Environment, which sets targets and approves management systems, and the Superintendence of Environment, which oversees compliance and can impose sanctions for violations. 

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