Defra begins EPR scheme administrator ‘steering group’ selection

Defra has previously committed to appointing a scheme administrator for packaging EPR “at the end of 2023” (see letsrecycle.com story).

In an announcement on Friday (22 September), the department explained that for the first 12 months of the scheme, due to begin in 2025, the steering group will play the role of an an interim administrator.

Defra said the interim group will “support the design, establishment, and mobilisation of the packaging EPR scheme. It will play a critical role in the formation of the Scheme Administrator and future improvements in its design and development”.

It added that the steering group will also “advise on the shape and approach of the scheme administrator’s future governance arrangements, functions, and operations, before the scheme’s underpinning regulations come into force”.

It will consist of 12 individuals, Defra said, representing producers, local authorities, the four UK governments, three trade associations, a waste management body representative, an environmental non-government organisation, the head of the EPR scheme administrator and an independent chair.

The deadline for applications is 23:55 on 3 October 2023.

Public body

The Treasury has set out that the scheme administrator for EPR must be from the public sector. It will determine how producers pay fees to cover local authorities’ full net disposal costs for household packaging waste.

In March, the environment secretary Thérèse Coffey told MPs that she is open to allowing producers to be on the scheme administrator board, but is “restricted” by the Treasury’s stance that it must be from the public sector (see letsrecycle.com story).

This came on the back of a meeting with producers who has raised concerns over the then-2024 introduction of the scheme. It has since been delayed by one year.

The interim administrator arrangement would allow stakeholders from across the packaging supply chain to help form the early stages of the scheme’s governance. It will also help Defra get producers on board, as trade associations representing some of the biggest producers have regularly hit out at the plans.