The book concerned belonged to the reprocessor Peniston Plastics of Rotherham. The firm had its PRN accreditation removed by the Agency in November last year because it did not submit its Quarter 3 data.
But more than four months after the company's accreditation was removed, the Agency has now become aware that a number of PRNs appear to have been issued after the November date from the book originally supplied to Peniston.
”Whatever information we have will be handed over to the police.“
– Environment Agency spokesman
It is thought that the PRN tonnage in question could number into the tens of thousands.
An Agency spokesman told letsrecycle.com: “We are calling in the police. Whatever information we have will be handed over to the police.”
The PRN case comes as a government investigation continues into whether any plastics reprocessors have been issuing PRNs inappropriately (see letsrecycle.com story).
The Agency has warned that any PRNs issued from the book concerned after November 1, 2003 will be seen as invalid. But, purchasers of the PRNs may still be able to use them.
This is because the Environment Agency has said that if a company can show it purchased the notes in good faith at a fair market price before March 15, 2004, it would consider a claim that the buyer took “reasonable steps” to purchase its obligation.
The spokesman added that the public register had been changed to reflect the removal of Peniston's accreditation, but the fact that PRNs had been issued after the removal had only just come to light.
Criticism
However, the UK regulatory agencies have come in for some criticism from the industry, with some unhappy that it took so long to make the market aware of the removal of Peniston's accreditation.
One industry expert said that Peniston had been on SEPA's list of accredited reprocessors until March 12, 2004.
“The PRN system survives on the quality of the accreditation of the PRN. The agencies are the accreditors of the PRN, and like it or not they have the responsibility to make the market aware when a company has had its accreditation removed,” he said. “It is detrimental to the entire industry if someone is selling these on the market, they are driving the price down.”
”Operators have to give us an operational plan to show responsible procurement of PRNs they are responsible for buying evidence from a reputable reprocessor.“
– Environment Agency
An Environment Agency spokesman said that there was little the Agency could do once a company had had its accreditation removed. The Agency believes it is up to obligated producers and compliance schemes to take responsibility and deal only with reputable reprocessors.
“Everyone looks to us as the policemen,” he said. “We have a role in it as regulators, but the schemes and producers should take an interest – there's 70 to 80 million at stake here. Operators have to give us an operational plan to show responsible procurement of PRNs they are responsible for buying evidence from a reputable reprocessor.”
Continued on page 2
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