 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
ABOUT THE REGULATIONS
The Packaging Waste Regulations places a legal obligation on all companies who exceed a turnover of £2 million and handle 50 tonnes of packaging. Failure to comply with the regulations can result in prosecution and a considerable fine to the company. The legal deadline to register each year is the 7th April.
Obligated companies have the option of registering directly with the Environment Agency and meet these targets themselves or can pass their obligations over to a Compliance Scheme
The Regulations work on the principle of Producer Responsibility - encouraging producers to take responsibility for their environmental impact. Once a company has calculated its obligation, it must demonstrate that it has paid for the recovery and recycling of the required amount of packaging. This is achieved through the PRN system (Packaging Recovery Notes). It is important to note that a company does not have to recycle its own packaging, but it must invest in recycling the equivalent amount of its obligation.
PRNs are issued by accredited reprocessors. Reprocessors must be accredited by the Environment Agency before they can issues PRNs. The revenue generated through the sale of PRNs is used in the development for new technology in recycling plants, to increase recycling and the collection of more wastes.
UK Business Targets
These UK targets are different and higher than the Directive targets. This takes account of the fact that, whilst the Directive targets apply to the totality of packaging waste arising in UK, not all businesses handling packaging pass the threshold tests and so the packaging they handle is not obligated.
RECOVERY TARGETS |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
2009 |
2010 |
66% |
67% |
68% |
69% |
70% |
|
|
|||||
RECYCLING TARGETS |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
2009 |
2010 |
Paper |
66.5% |
67% |
67.5% |
68% |
68.5% |
Glass |
65% |
69.5% |
73.5% |
74% |
74.5% |
Aluminium |
29% |
31% |
32.5% |
33% |
33.5% |
Steel |
56% |
57.5% |
58.5% |
59% |
59.5% |
Plastic |
23% |
24% |
24.5% |
25% |
25.5% |
Wood |
19.5% |
20% |
20.5% |
21% |
21.5% |
Minimum Recycling* |
92% |
92% |
92% |
92% |
92% |
* Minimum amount of recovery to be achieved through recycling
Recycle Wales Ltd takes over the statutory obligations of member companies to recover and recycle packaging waste in proportion to the packaging materials they handle in their businesses. These obligations result from a European Directive and they are based on the principle of shared producer responsibility with the aim of achieving sustainable production and consumption.