YEREVAN, Armenia — From April 3 to 4, the ideation hackathon on “Extended Producer Responsibility: Public Awareness Ideas” gathered over 50 representatives of government bodies, municipalities, civil society organizations (CSO), businesses, educational institutions, and youth groups.
The event was organized by the Public Awareness and Monitoring Center NGO as part of the Sweden-funded Waste Policy Armenia (WPA) program, implemented by the AUA Acopian Center for the Environment, in cooperation with Armenia’s Ministry of Environment, and the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure.
At the Hackathon, participants worked in groups to develop public awareness campaign concepts and messages tailored to four distinct target audiences, namely local and national government, media, CSO, and youth. The event format encouraged effective and engaging cross-sector dialogue, and for ideas to be refined and integrated into future communication and advocacy efforts initiated by the WPA program.
The event addressed crucial questions, such as, who is responsible for keeping waste out of Armenia’s landfills and how to garner the public’s interest to support and advocate for the cause.
The event also discussed Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), a policy instrument that shifts responsibility for post-consumer waste, its collection, recycling, treatment, and safe disposal from the public sector to the producers and importers who place those products on the market.
Harutyun Alpetyan, WPA program manager, explained, “Certain waste streams require safe collection, sorting, recycling, or disposal, all of which involve costs. The principle is simple: the polluter pays. In this case, that means producers and importers of the respective products and goods, who share this responsibility.”
He added that waste management costs are typically covered through dedicated financial mechanisms. “For example, properly managing a single plastic bottle would cost around 2–3 Armenian drams. With this small contribution, the bottle can be diverted from landfills, avoiding environmental and public health impacts.
Alpetyan also noted that, while Armenia is moving toward policies that are aligned with the European Waste Directive, a key challenge is financing their implementation. Introducing proper financial mechanisms will allow the development of adequate infrastructure and sustainably functioning systems. The state’s role, in his view, is supervision, enforcement, and building trust, ensuring that what producers and consumers pay is spent transparently on managing the waste it is meant to address.
A draft legislative package on EPR, developed by the Ministry of Environment through technical assistance by the WPA program, is under interministerial review following multistakeholder consultations. It will next be introduced to the National Assembly for further public review before its adoption. To support this, the WPA program has conducted an economic impact assessment of the policy that will support deliberations on the proposed legislation.
The AUA Acopian Center for the Environment, a research center of the American University of Armenia (AUA), promotes the protection and restoration of the natural environment through research, education, and community outreach. The AUA Acopian Center’s focus areas include sustainable natural resource management, biodiversity protection and conservation, greening the built environment, sustainable energy, as well as information technology and the environment. Visit ace.aua.am.
The Sweden-funded “Waste Policy Armenia” program is implemented by the AUA Acopian Center for the Environment in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment of Armenia and the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure of Armenia.
