Defra confirms packaging recovery targets for 2008 to 2010

But, the government has slightly reduced the increases in the recycling targets for aluminium and glass packaging compared to those it proposed last autumn in its public consultation exercise (see letsrecycle.com story).

Packaging producer responsibility targets 2008-2010 (Defra)
Packaging material	Target  2008 (%)	Target 2009  (%)	Target 2010  (%)
Paper	67.5	68.5	69.5
Glass	78.0	80.0	81.0
Aluminium	35.0	38.0	40.0
Steel	68.0	68.5	69.0
Plastic	26.0	27.0	29.0
Wood	20.5	21.0	22.0
Recovery	72.0	73.0	74.0

The aluminium recycling target for 2008 will be 35% – rather than the 38% rate proposed by Defra in September. It will then rise to 38% in 2009 and 40% in 2010.

The glass recycling target of 78% for 2008 has been reduced by 0.5 percentage points compared to the 78.5% proposed by Defra in its consultation.

Ministers have raised the overall recovery target from 69% in 2008 to 72% to balance out the reductions in aluminium and glass recycling requirements for the packaging industry.

Carbon

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs emphasised the savings in carbon emissions that the higher recovery and recycling targets will achieve through the packaging producer responsibility system.

The recovery targets are the responsibility of the packaging supply chain, who must pay recyclers via the purchase of PRNs – packaging waste recovery notes – to meet the targets on their behalf.

Eight million tonnes of carbon dioxide will be prevented from entering the atmosphere because of the increased targets, Defra claimed.

The targets set for 2008 and beyond were revised in the light of new industry data on how much packaging waste arises in the UK waste stream. The new targets for obligated packaging producers should also mean the UK will meet its national targets set by Europe's Packaging Directive for 2008.

Joan Ruddock, Minister for Waste, commented that: “Reducing, recovering and recycling packaging is an important way in which business, Government and the consumer can work together to reduce greenhouse gases. These increased targets represent our commitment to drive up recycling in Great Britain and tackle dangerous climate change.”

The new targets have been agreed by government, but are still subject to the completion of Parliamentary procedure. A statutory instrument subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House will be laid shortly, the Department said.

Aluminium and glass

Representatives of packaging producer organisations and recyclers had warned the government last year that its original proposals for aluminium and glass would be difficult to achieve (see letsrecycle.com story).

Ministers were understood to have been unhappy at having to downgrade their ambitions – particularly for aluminium, where 95% of energy is saved using recycled rather than virgin raw materials.

Industry has had difficulty collecting aluminium cans from the household and “away from home” sectors, but has also been struggling with new accreditation requirements for foreign reprocessors.

Defra confirmed that the move to reduce its proposed increases in the two materials' recycling targets had been taken “to reflect current market factors and updated data on Great Britain's recycling performance for aluminium and glass.” It pointed out that glass and aluminium targets are an increase from 2007, and are rising year-on-year to 2010.

It also stressed that the reducing of the recycling targets had been balanced out by the rise in the overall recovery rate for packaging. “We are balancing these adjustments with higher than proposed overall recovery targets, to achieve a bigger CO₂ reduction in total,” it said.

The Department pledged to work with industry, local authorities, WRAP and others “to develop a package of measures to increase aluminium recycling”.

“Significant improvements in the collection and sorting arrangements are needed, particularly for beverage cans in the household and on-street waste streams. Aluminium is one of the Waste Strategy's priority materials, high-value and carbon-rich, so we have much to gain by enabling higher recycling rates,” it said.

Analysts believe the increases in the overall packaging recovery targets could slightly lift values of paper and wood PRNs – packaging waste recovery notes – which have been almost worthless in recent months.

• Targets proposed within the autumn consultation for the years 2011 and 2012 are still under discussion, a Defra spokeswoman told letsrecycle.com today. “In the interests of getting the targets out, we decided to publish the 2008 to 2010 targets now, and will be following up with the 2011 and 2012 targets when they have been decided,” she said.