The Agencies have accused the government of “prescriptive measures” and that its proposals “may undermine the existing recycling and recovery targets and our enforcement of them”.
”We would recommend that government does not adopt such a rigid approach. “
– Environment Agency
The government said last week it would be making the changes to the regulations despite objections made by industry (see letsrecycle.com story).
Now it appears Defra intends to go ahead with controversial changes to the enforcement of the packaging producer responsibility system – without the support of the enforcement bodies themselves.
Approval
Both Agencies welcomed further involvement of government in monitoring the packaging waste recovery obligations. However, as with the packaging producers, a key issue that alarmed the Agencies was the approval or re-approval of compliance schemes or producers.
SEPA – the Scottish Environment Protection Agency – wrote to the Scottish Executive to say it “strongly disagreed with the prescriptive measures proposed”.
And, the Environment Agency told Defra: “We would recommend that government does not adopt such a rigid approach to re-approval but instead considers on a case-by-case basis the circumstances of each individual scheme.”
Defra wants compliance schemes to re-apply for approval every year, and for approval to be granted at a ministerial level. The Environment Agency said it was “unsure” why all compliance schemes should have to apply for re-approval.
SEPA also questioned the need to re-approve schemes each year, saying: “It may be more appropriate to provide additional powers which enable the Secretary of State or Scottish Ministers to review a scheme's registration on a less frequent (say three-yearly) or ad hoc basis.”
The Environment Agency also questioned the time involved in granting approval for schemes, warning that businesses needed early confirmation of approval and subsequent registration to provide certainty.
Conditional
The Agencies also objected to Defra's proposal to grant “conditional approval” on schemes that narrowly miss their packaging waste recovery targets. SEPA disagreed with the concept of conditional approval, saying any benefits were outweighed by disadvantages.
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The Environment Agency said that by allowing schemes to continue operating after having missed their targets by a small fraction meant “government has in effect introduced new lower recycling and recovery targets”. SEPA also suggested “many producers and schemes will take advantage of this and plan for 99% compliance”.
SEPA said it would prefer “to state that approval may not be given if a scheme fails to meet its recovery and recycling obligation”, and that the extent of failure to comply should be determined when deciding on enforcement action.
Other concerns raised by the Agencies included the definitions involved in newly-obligated franchise businesses and the fees suggested for companies submitting data late. The Environment Agency was “not convinced” by fees suggested by Defra, while SEPA said setting fees for those submitting data late might mean companies submit early, inaccurate data and do not seek to send more accurate, amended data later on.
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