[Background]
○ (Background) Manufacturers and importers of plastic products subject to waste disposal charges enter into voluntary agreements with the Minister of Environment regarding waste collection and recycling. If they meet the collection and recycling targets set in the agreement, they are eligible for a reduction in waste disposal charges (since 2008).
* Toys: Agreement signed in 2019, achieving a recycling volume of 3,962 tons in 2023.

- To prevent the misuse of the voluntary agreement system as a way to avoid waste disposal charges, the duration of agreements was limited to a maximum of five years (revised in the Resource Recycling Act in November 2019, implemented in May 2020). As a result, products whose agreement period has expired must either revert to the waste disposal charge system or transition to the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system.

○ (Need) To promote resource circulation, the toy industry, which has established a stable collection and recycling system during the voluntary agreement period, should be designated as an EPR mandatory product. This would impose recycling obligations on the manufacturers and importers of these products and require them to fulfill these obligations.

[Regulatory Content]
Add "Toys" to the list of products subject to the EPR obligations.