The Packaging Recovery Organisation Europe PRO EUROPE, founded in 1995, is an umbrella organisation that links the packaging organisations of various countries and whose main objective is to represent the Green Dot marking around the world and protect the interests of producers with regard to the legislation of the European Union.
In its primary role, PRO EUROPE is the general licensor of the “Green Dot” trademark. PRO EUROPE is the umbrella organization for packaging and packaging waste recovery and recycling schemes which use the “Green Dot” trademark as an identification symbol. The producer responsibility organisations that have joined PRO EUROPE have the exclusive right to use the Green Dot marking within the extent of their territory.
The registered trademark “The Green Dot” – protected in more than 170 countries around the world – on packaging means that, for such packaging, a financial contribution has been paid to a national packaging recovery company that has been set up in accordance with the principles defined in European Directive No. 94/62 and its national law if distributed in a country with a functioning Green Dot system.
- PRO EUROPE has 31 member organizations active in 31 countries in 2013 of which 28 use the Green Dot, financing and / or running the infrastructure for the collection, sorting and recycling of (mainly household) packaging waste
- About 150,000 companies are contributing licensees/members of PRO EUROPE member systems.
- About 300 million inhabitants have access to separate collection financed by PRO EUROPE member systems.
- About 460 billion packaging items are yearly labeled with the ‘Green Dot’, a registered trademark in more than 170 countries.
MTÜ Eesti Taaskasutusorganisatsioon (ERO) has been a member of PRO EUROPE since 2004 and has the sole right to represent and use the Green Dot (der Grüne Punkt) marking in Estonia. The Green Dot marking on packaging indicates that directing the specific packaging to recovery has been financed by means of the Green Dot system.
Website of PRO EUROPE: http://www.pro_e.org