English

The role of the Icelandic Recycling Fund is to create economic incentives that contribute to a circular economy with an emphasis on value creation and the transformation of waste into raw material.

In recent years, understanding has increased of how necessary it is to gain control of the growing quantity of waste that has accompanied today's consumer society.

Demands are placed by individuals, municipalities and the commercial sector on systematic solutions for waste and on products not causing damage to the environment. At the level of the European Economic Area, rules with this objective have been set for the Area as a whole, as well as by the governments of individual member states.

The Icelandic Recycling Fund (IRF) is in charge of executing the extended producer’s responsibility on certain goods in Iceland. It administers and distributes recycling fees, in accordance with The Act on Recycling Fees.

The IRF plays a significant role in promoting the circular economy, sustainable resource utilization, in reducing the generation of waste, and increasing its recycling. To that end, the fund runs an efficient system, based on economic incentives and considering environmental benefits as well as waste management prioritization (waste hierarchy), for the processing of waste that has been created because of products that fall under its scope of responsibility. The IRF negotiates with waste management companies on the processing of waste based on tenders or contracts.

The IRF is responsible for meeting the national numerical processing targets for the following waste categories:
• The recycling and recovery of packaging waste,
• The collection, preparation for reuse, recycling, and disposal of electrical and electronic waste,
• The collection, preparation for reuse, recycling, recovery, and disposal of used batteries and accumulators,
• The collection, preparation for reuse, recycling, recovery, and disposal of used vehicles subject to registration,
• The collection of fishing gear waste that contains plastic.