The packaging producer responsibility system relies on accurate and timely information on reprocessing levels, as well as the amount of packaging waste put on the market by obligated producers each year.
” All the operators want this to happen, but the management in the Agency is blocking it. It is an appalling state of affairs.“
– John Turner, ACP chairman
Along with the amount of packaging waste in the waste stream, this data is needed for traders to help shape prices of packaging waste recovery notes (PRNs) – the evidence sold by reprocessors to packaging producers to demonstrate producer responsibility.
However, because of a lack of data, the prices of PRNs are currently largely based on estimates rather than known levels of supply and demand.
The ACP – a group of industry experts that advises Defra on packaging waste issues – wants to see a national database system set up to give the market as close to real-time data as possible. But with the Environment Agency controlling all official data, such a system requires Agency support to be set up – and this has not been forthcoming.
John Turner, who chairs the ACP, has reacted heatedly to the Agency “resisting” the need for a packaging recovery data system.
Appalling
Mr Turner said: “All the operators want this to happen, but the management in the Agency is blocking it. It is an appalling state of affairs – they are burying their heads in the sand. This is another reflection of the commitment of the Agency towards the producer responsibility system.”
Responding to the criticism, the Environment Agency told letsrecycle.com it is not against the idea of a national data system for packaging recovery, but it has other priorities in terms of its IT work.
A spokeswoman from the Agency said: “It needs to fit in with the broader picture, within a given framework and timetable. At the moment some of the more pressing priorities are with things like hazardous waste, which affects more people.”
Costs
Compliance schemes see the national data system as important for keeping the costs their producer members must meet at a realistic level.
” At the moment some of the more pressing priorities are with things like hazardous waste, which affects more people.“
– Environment Agency
Phil Conran, of compliance scheme Biffpack, said: “Any organisation relies on good data. Here we are at August 4, and we still have not got the reported data for this year – and that is half of the information on which the UK PRN market is based.”
Schemes also believe the national database would be important to safeguard the PRN market against the “inappropriate” issuing of recovery notes. Mr Conran said the national data system would be a “very useful” tool for the Agency to compare data from year to year, and that any unexplained jumps in the amount of PRNs reprocessors issue would be immediately apparent.
Mr Conran said: “It's strange that the Agency is not supporting this, as it would allow them to enforce things much more cost-effectively and accurately.”
The Agency said there would be a meeting in September in which items including the packaging recovery data system would be discussed. The Agency spokeswoman added that if producers were to provide funding for a database to be set up, it would it would be an inducement for the work to be carried out.
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