Packaging Recycling
Under the Packaging Regulations, the UK must recover 60% of all packaging waste by 31st December 2008, as well as meeting several other targets for individual packaging materials. An obligated business is a company or group of companies who performs an 'activity' and meets both of the following:- In the previous calendar year handled over 50 tonnes of packaging around products that it supplied (and/or consumed if imported); and
- In the most recent audited accounts, exceeded a £2m turnover.
All companies with an obligation are required to register with either the Environment Agency or Scottish Environment Protection Agency or a registered Compliance Scheme.
To qualify, packaging you handle has to meet the following criteria -
it has to be owned by you; and it has to be passed on to someone who carries out the next activity in the packaging chain or to the person who throws it away; and/or it has been imported by you.
The term 'packaging' is anything that is used in the transport, handling or protection of products. Six types of material are covered - paper, plastic, steel, aluminium, glass and wood. There is also a category of 'other' that includes things such as hessian bags.
There are four 'ACTIVITIES' in the packaging chain, each of which takes responsibility for a percentage of the packaging:-
The company that manufactures the raw material - RAW MATERIAL - 6%
The company that turns it into packaging - CONVERTER - 9%
The company that puts the product in that packaging - PACKER/FILLER - 37%
The company that sells it to the final consumer - SELLER - 48%
The responsibility does not demand that companies recover a proportion of the actual packaging they have handled. It means that companies have to own proof of recovery of an equivalent proportion of their responsibility percentage multiplied by the actual target percentages.
In practice, this means obtaining Packing Recovery Notes (PRNs), which are produced by reprocessors of packaging. The targets are structured so that PRNs are required for each material handled as well as for more general recovery.
A compliance scheme obtains these PRNs on behalf of its members. PRN prices can fluctuate, determined by supply and demand. Revenues from PRN sales should be used by reprocessors to stimulate increased collection and recycling infrastructure and to develop end markets for recycled goods.
Ongoing, the quest is to meet the Directive targets in 2008 which, as mentioned, include an overall recovery target of 60%, an overall recycling target of 55% and material-specific targets for paper (60%), glass (60%), metals (50%), plastic (22.5%) and wood (15%).
If you are a general consumer and would like further information on packaging please see Recycling for Householders - Packaging.
