Targets for the amount of packaging recovery notes (PRNs) needed for the year are based on a percentage of what is placed on the market by producers the previous year.
Producers are obliged to submit this data by the following April and targets are calculated on the back of this. Producers only face a fine of around £110 for registering late.
Targets
Joseph Doherty, managing director of Northern Ireland-based Re-Gen Waste, estimates that there is still more than 250,000 tonnes from 2021 to be added to the overall targets for 2022, of which two-thirds is glass.
This means that those looking to buy evidence are unable to understand the true challenge faced in the final quarter of 2022, he suggests.
Mr Doherty said: “The economic downturn is likely to hit sales in Q4 and there is also a global decrease in demand for packaging waste due to reduced manufacture brought about by high energy prices and over-stocking earlier in the year.
“This would suggest that Q4 is unlikely to see the increases now needed to meet the expected end of year targets without the additional stimulation of high PRN prices.
“What is critical now is that pressure is urgently brought to bear on businesses that have not yet registered for 2022 to ensure that the full scale of the Q4 challenge is understood to give the recycling industry the opportunity do what they can to increase recycling levels before the end of the year.”
Data
Mr Doherty was speaking on the back of data published by the Environment Agency last week, which suggested that targets are on track to be hit but the situation remains tight (see letsrecycle.com story).
It is critical that pressure is urgently brought to bear on businesses not registered
- Joseph Doherty, Re-Gen Waste
The data, released on 24 October, shows that all materials are on track to hit their respective recycling targets as they stand on the basis they have recorded at least 75% of the overall obligation once carry-over from 2021 is considered.
However, compliance experts have all said a string of large household names are yet to submit the required data and as a result the targets for 2022 could increase.
Warning
Mr Doherty is not the first to say that more needs to be done to tackle late registrants.
In August, Phil Conran, consultant at 360 Environmental and former chair of the government’s Advisory Committee on Packaging, also criticised those not submitting data in time (see letsrecycle.com story).
He said the EA and other Agencies seem “powerless to force these companies to register but more needs to be done”.
Subscribe for free