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Defra looks to engage with industry on waste reforms

The Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) has set up a ‘business readiness forum’ to keep industry informed of the government’s waste reforms and associated delivery projects.

Meanwhile, the department has also developed an online ‘obligation checker’ to help businesses understand whether they are obligated to collect data under extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging.

Defra has set up a ‘business readiness forum’ to keep industry informed of waste reforms

Defra is looking to engage with industry amid widespread concerns with some of the reforms, including that many businesses are unaware of and unready for their obligations under EPR (see letsrecycle.com story).

The government’s collections and packaging reforms programme includes EPR, the deposit return scheme (DRS) and consistency in household and business recycling in England.

The new “two-way” forum will provide an opportunity for industry to hear updates and progress on the three projects, Defra says.

Attendees will have an opportunity to discuss the projects and “help us understand what is required to make them work together”, Defra says, alongside being able to ask questions and be part of testing proposals and guidance.

In a letter to stakeholders, Defra’s business readiness and engagement team said: “We encourage businesses, representing bodies including trade associations and industry groups to join the forum and continue working with us to help delivering the collections and packaging reforms. All are welcome and there are no restrictions on number of attendees.”

The first business readiness forum will take place on 10 January on Microsoft Teams. Meetings will take place fortnightly thereafter, Defra says, and industry will have the opportunity to submit suggested topics for discussion or request an update at future forums.

EPR

Elsewhere, Defra published its interactive obligation checker for EPR, which is available in English and will work on any web browser, on 22 December.

This came shortly after Defra published a draft statutory instrument setting out how businesses will submit data for EPR, in some cases from this month (see letsrecycle.com story).

The tool is designed to help businesses understand if they are obligated under EPR and takes no longer than five minutes, Defra says.

To help businesses understand the obligations under EPR, Defra differentiates between two distinct sets. The first is the ‘waste cost and recycling obligations’, with an obligation to report placed on the market data, meet recycling obligations and pay disposal costs for local authority-collected waste.

Table showing how businesses work out their waste cost and recycling obligations (picture: Defra)

“These obligations are closely related to the existing producer responsibility for packaging scheme,” Defra says. “Producers who are captured under these obligations must register with their regulator, collect and report information on the packaging that they supply to the UK market.”

Those who have a ‘full obligation’ will then have to meet further obligations based on their data.

The second set is the ‘nation of sale obligations’, with an obligation to report where packaging is disposed, broken down by nation within the UK.

Table showing how businesses work out their nation of sale obligation (picture: Defra)

“This is a data reporting-only obligation, where packaging must be broken down by the nation in the UK where it was disposed,” Defra says.

Not all producer types will be obligated for both sets of obligations, Defra added.

Related link
Defra obligation checker

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