Action needed to divert packaging waste from households

Up to 1.3 million tonnes of packaging need to be recycled each year over the next few years if the UK is to reach its targets under the Packaging Waste Directive, the ACP said in a report to DEFRA.

Writing to the government, ACP chairman John Turner said: “Much of the additional material will have to come from the domestic waste stream and unless many more local authorities move into separate or co-collection of all packaging materials and we make best use of those already in operation, the UK will not meet its targets.”

As well as calling for more to be done to exploit the municipal waste stream, the ACP report made a number of key recommendations to the government concerning the tightening of the UK packaging waste recovery system.

From the work carried out by the ACP's four task forces since September 2002, the report makes recommendations on how to recover more material from “de minimis” companies currently exempt from the packaging waste recovery regulations because they fall under the regulation thresholds. There are also suggestions made on recovery targets, in which the government was advised that targets ought to be announced up to 2008 to improve business planning.

Enforcement
Enforcement activities need to be tightened and work carried out to prevent “free riders” from abusing the system. The ACP said that regulatory agencies need more enforcement powers and that the packaging waste recovery note (PRN) system needs to become part of the UK regulations, such that any abuse of the system would be a criminal offence.

Mr Turner explained: “We believe that steps must be taken to prevent (the) apparent misuse of the system. This will mean more work for the (regulatory) agencies but if we are to be successful in achieving real increases in packaging waste recycling, it is essential for the necessary steps to be taken. The extra resources will have to be funded principally by reprocessors and it is important that deployment of Agency funds is transparent and focussed.”

An improvement is needed in the way packaging waste data is handled, the ACP report advised, suggesting the setting up of an internet-based central data management system.

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