Producer Responsibility

There is a range of producer responsibility legislation on waste that places both financial and logistical responsibilities on businesses involved in various sectors, such as electronic equipment, vehicle manufacturing, batteries and packaging. The UK systems for each waste stream are outlined below.

WEEE

Around 1.9 million tonnes of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is generated each year from domestic and commercial sources.

And, under the WEEE Regulations, brought in on July 1, 2007, producers of electrical appliances - both manufacturers and importers - are responsible for collecting and recycling waste electronics from both households and businesses.

Complying with Europe's WEEE Directive (2003), the regulations make producers pay producer compliance schemes to arrange for collections of WEEE from designated collection facilities (DCFs), and for collected items to be recycled at approved authorised treatment facilities (AATFs) or sent overseas by approved exporters.

Many of these DCFs are run by local authorities, and may take the form of household waste recycling centres, civic amenity sites or waste transfer stations. Householders can take their old electrical goods to the sites, where they are gathered for onward transportation by a compliance scheme or partner firm to be recycled.

Both collection and recycling facilities issue the producer compliance schemes with evidence to show that received goods have been recycled to meet both EU recycling targets and environmental protection conditions.  A 'Settlement Centre' has been set up to co-ordinate the flow of this WEEE recycling evidence.

Collection targets

The UK comfortably exceeded the Directive's first household WEEE collection target of 4kg of equipment per head per year in 2007, 2008 and 2009. However, the early years of the system were blighted by concerns over how some producer compliance schemes have gone about meeting their members' obligations, and calls to increase public awareness of the need to recycle WEEE.

The need to increase collection levels has been brought into focus by an ongoing recast of the EU WEEE Directive which is set to involve a move from the current weight-based collection goals to a tougher percentage-based target. The recast is currently passing through the European legislative process, with new goals not expected to be in place until 2016.

In the meantime, efforts are increasing to tackle the issue of ‘leakage’ of material outside the formal WEEE system – in particular WEEE from businesses, with high profile legal cases highlighting the potential for UK WEEE to be illegally exported to developing nations in Asia and Africa.

PACKAGING

Over 10 million tonnes of packaging waste arises in the UK each year, with almost half used to package household goods, making it a relatively small but visible part of the waste stream.

Under the Packaging Waste Regulations, which came into force in 1997 and saw targets set for the first time in 1998, packaging producers are obligated to pay towards packaging recycling by buying evidence, known as Packaging Waste Recycling Notes (PRNs), from reprocessors or exporters.

The obligation applies to all those involved in the packaging supply chain which have an annual turnover above £2 million, or which handles more than 50 tonnes of packaging a year. Many obligated companies sign up with producer compliance schemes, who buy recycling evidence on their behalf.

The number of PRNs companies have to buy is determined by targets which are set by the UK government, known more commonly as ‘business targets’. So far, business targets have been set up until 2012.

Directive

The PRN system is designed to enable the UK to meet its targets under the 1994 European Directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste (94/62). The Directive required that the UK recovered at least 60% of all packaging waste by December 31, 2008, as well as meeting a number of other targets, which the UK achieved. The directive is expected to be revised around 2015, at which point higher targets may be set.

Packaging waste policy is one area which is currently being reviewed by the coalition government as part of its wider waste review and it remains to be seen whether any dramatic changes to the PRN system are proposed. The review will set business targets from 2013 onwards.

The latest business targets set by the coalition government, for 2011 and 2012, are broadly the same as those which were in place for 2010 suggesting a possible lack of ambition in this area and eagerness to limit the amount paid out by businesses. However, PRN prices have consequently fallen and concerns have emerged over how councils and reprocessors alike will cope with the reduction in subsidy.

For its part, Defra has expressed a strong penchant for voluntary agreements such as the Courtauld Commitment, which set targets for retailers to reduce packaging and food waste and led to zero growth in packaging waste in 2008.

Advice on packaging policy is provided to the government by the Advisory Committee on Packaging, which is made up of representatives from throughout the packaging supply chain.

In 2008 the committee produced a report entitled Packaging in Perspective which highlighted the important role of packaging in preventing food waste and how much producers had paid to recycle it to date.

Business Targets

Source: Defra

BATTERIES

Battery recycling is a relatively new field for the UK. While we recycle more than 90% of our lead acid batteries – principally those used in industrial applications and in vehicles - just 4% of the 45,000 tonnes of portable batteries put onto the market in 2009 are believed to have been recycled.

Other European countries have more impressive recycling rates and their own battery reprocessing facilities, but these are often subsidised by the state. In the UK, some councils do now offer battery recycling services and, while there are no legal obligations on local authorities to do so, recycling batteries does count towards their recycling targets.

However, the situation has begun to change with the UK's adoption of the European Union Batteries Directive. This requires manufacturers and importers to fund collections and recycling for spent batteries under a system of producer responsibility similar to that in place for waste electrical equipment.

A revision of a largely toothless existing Directive, this new Directive includes collection and reprocessing targets for portable batteries, while all industrial and automotive batteries are to be collected for recycling.

Regulations

It was introduced in the UK in stages, beginning with regulations for producers placing new batteries onto the market which were introduced in September 2008 while regulations for the collection, transport and recycling of waste portable batteries came into effect on January 1, 2010.

The regulations require producers and importers of batteries placing more than one tonne of batteries in a year to join a batteries compliance scheme, through which they must meet their waste battery recycling obligations. Smaller producers are required to register directly with the environment agencies and submit sales data.

The UK regulations also involve a role for retailers, who, since February 1, 2010 have been expected to provide free in-store take-back for waste portable batteries if they sell more than 32kg of batteries a year.

The first 25% collection target for portable batteries is expected to be achieved by the UK by September 2012, but interim, non-statutory collection targets for batteries must be achieved by producers from 2010.

END-OF-LIFE VEHICLES AND TYRES

In the UK, about 2.2 million vehicles come to the end of their lives each year. Currently between 75-80% of the materials (by weight) in an end-of-life vehicle (ELV) are recycled in this country.

Under the European ELV Directive, producers of vehicles are responsible for achieving certain recycling targets as well as environmental standards for the storage and treatment of ELVs.

The then-Department of Trade and Industry, now known as BIS, introduced the first set of UK ELV regulations in late 2003. These introduced design standards for vehicle manufacturers and environmental standards for the dismantling, recycling and disposal of ELVs by authorised treatment facilities (ATFs).

Service providers

The second set of UK ELV regulations came into force on February 9, 2005. These outlined requirements for vehicle manufacturers to fund the collection and recycling of 85% of their end-of-life vehicles by joining one of two service providers. These service providers – Autogreen and CarTakeBack – each offer a network of ATFs where vehicle owners can return their ELVs free of charge for recycling.

And, since 2006, the UK and all other EU member states have been expected to reach a national recycling, reuse and recovery target of 85%. Subject to review by the Commission this will rise to 95% in 2015. For more information see here

The landfilling of waste whole tyres was prohibited in July 2003 under the EU Landfill Directive, with shredded tyres banned from landfill in July 2006. The UK is seen as having a well-developed infrastructure for diverting tyres from landfill and ensuring their reuse in areas as diverse as sports ground surfacing and fuel for cement kilns.