Extended Producer Responsibility: Difference between revisions

Line 16:

It was initially believed the government would publish its responses to the consultations by the end of October 2021, however due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the deputy director for resources and waste at [[DEFRA]] said at [[RWM Exhibition|RWM]] the way forward will be published "later this year or early next" <ref>LetsRecycle, https://www.letsrecycle.com/news/defra-could-publish-consultation-responses-next-year, Published September 23rd 2021/</ref>. The actual consultation response was published in March 2022<ref>https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/packaging-and-packaging-waste-introducing-extended-producer-responsibility#full-publication-update-history</ref> with a review planned for the [[EPR]] system application to business wastes for 2026 to 2027. As part of this delayed implementation, the stated intention is to extend the [[PRN]]/[[PERN]] system, and a consultation on this was launched in parallel with the launch of the [[EPR]] consultation in March 2022<ref>https://consult.defra.gov.uk/packaging-extended-producer-responsibility/reforms-to-the-prn-and-pern-systems/</ref>.

==Key ~~Changes to Original~~ Consultation==

==Key Outputs from the Consultation==

to be ~~added~~

The summary of consultation responses was published on 26th March<ref>https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1063589/epr-consultation-government-response.pdf</ref> alongside more detailed analysis of the responses and the final impact assessment<ref>https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/packaging-and-packaging-waste-introducing-extended-producer-responsibility#full-publication-update-history</ref> on the 29th March 2022. The key outputs to be taken forwards into implementation are as follows, although the detail and deliverability is highlighted being requiring detailed work:

* Implement EPR in a phased manner from 2024 focusing on household packaging waste

* Introduce modulated fees based on 'recyclability' from 2025 - in Northern Ireland and England this excludes littered packaging waste, but in Wales this may be included<ref>https://www.letsrecycle.com/news/welsh-government-goes-further-with-epr/</ref>

* Continue with the current [[PRN]] system to demonstrate recycling obligations have been met (resulting in a consultation to improve the system, as noted above)

* Create a task force to explore payments for commercial waste

* Maintain the thresholds for [[Producer Responsibility]] [[Packaging Waste]] at £2m turnover and 50 tonnes of packaging, with a lower threshold of £1m and 25 tonnes for producers to report the packaging put on the market

* Compostable biodegradable packaging will be required to be given a 'do not recycle' label until evidence can be built to safely collect and compost it separately

* The scheme administrator (SA) will start to mobilise in 2023 and be fully operational by 2024 and likely to be within the public sector

* The EPR scheme will be reviewed after two years of operation and include the outputs from the task force on commercial waste

* The impact assessment shows the producer cost to be around £1.7bn each year, a reduction of £1bn on the previous scope of the consultation, which included commercial as well as household packaging waste

==References==