Uzbekistan plans to introduce its own Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system in 2026. The initiative may be included in the country’s national development strategy, “Uzbekistan-2030.”
The Ministry of Ecology, Environmental Protection, and Climate Change aims to draft a regulatory framework by November 1, 2025, requiring manufacturers and importers of plastic products to manage and recycle the waste generated from their production and imports.
Under the proposed plan, the collection, sorting, and recycling of plastic waste will be handled either by the producers and importers themselves or by specialized recycling enterprises. The system will introduce gradually increasing recycling obligations — for instance, beverage producers must recycle 50% of their plastic packaging by 2026, 75% by 2027, and 100% by 2028.
Uzbekistan’s approach is inspired by the experience of the European Union, Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan, but it will focus specifically on polymer packaging rather than all types of packaging materials.
For comparison, Russia implemented its EPR system in 2024, and as of January 1, 2025, the packaging recycling requirement there increased from 10% to 55%.