As the government's Advisory Committee on Packaging (ACP) investigates how to use funds from the packaging industry to help councils to recycle more packaging, another possible solution is for a “matchmaker” to direct funding to councils that need it.
The ACP, which makes recommendations to Defra to help the UK meet its Packaging Directive recovery targets for packaging waste, has set up a task force to look into the issue of local authority-industry working.
ACP chairman John Turner said yesterday that last year 170 million had been spent by packaging manufacturers and importers on the recycling of packaging waste, but little of this revenue was reaching local authorities.
He suggested up to 600,000 tonnes more packaging waste could have to be recovered from the domestic waste stream if the UK is to meet European targets set for 2008.
Mr Turner, who ran the UK's largest packaging compliance scheme – Valpak – before taking the chairmanship of the ACP, was speaking at the letsrecycle.com Live! packaging mini-conference yesterday at Stoneleigh Park, Coventry.
He warned that there was no more than a “small chance” of ever changing local authority recycling targets to target the collection of packaging waste.
Instead, Mr Turner said either a strategic approach was needed at chief executive level, and that either a central or regional fund would need to be set up, or a “middleman matchmaker” created to direct funds to local authorities.
Councils
So far, packaging producer support has not reached council recycling services to a significant degree to help with collections.
Also speaking at the letsrecycle.com Live! event yesterday, Lee Marshall of recycling officers' organisation LARAC said prices councils were able to attract for their collected packaging material had not changed with the introduction of packaging producer responsibility 10 years ago.
Mr Marshall warned that local authorities were now engaged in a “dash for grass” to meet their landfill allowance targets, which meant the collection of packaging waste was not a priority.
Mr Marshall advised packaging producers to “talk to councils, not at them”.
He suggested a central fund for councils to bid for money was one way to strengthen packaging waste collection infrastructure. He also suggested having local authorities in contracts with reprocessors and producers could help.
Valpak
The mini-conference yesterday also saw representatives from packaging producer organisations Valpak and Alupro. Valpak's Rick Hindley addressed the need to increase local authority collections, and spoke about his organisation's local authority support programme.
Mr Hindley said the 2008 Directive targets would be missed without working with local authorities, particularly in glass, plastics and metals. He said partnership working with councils should include contracts to provide funding support in return for deliveries of packaging waste to generate PRNs.
He suggested financial incentives for local authorities could in turn generate financial incentives for householders to recycle packaging.
Along with more kerbside recycling collections, Mr Hindley said new waste treatment technologies would be important in recovering more packaging waste from the household waste stream. And, he warned of the need to target the “away from home” waste stream.
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Alupro
Alupro's Cherry Hamson highlighted her organisation's “Trees for Africa” campaign, which offers householders incentives for recycling their aluminium cans. She said guidance could be changed to require business plans to show how PRN revenue is to be spent to drive up the collections of specific materials.
Ms Hamson said it was important for packaging producers to see how their PRN revenue is being spent by reprocessors and exporters, and said independent audits should be required to cover PRN revenue expenditure.
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