Government to tackle packaging waste export problems

The move comes following a plea from packaging waste exporters to look again at new regulations demanding that exporters name foreign reprocessors to which they intend to export packaging waste.

”A consultation paper is expected to be published in March this year which could propose changes which could affect accreditation for 2006 activity.“
– Sheila McKinley, Defra
In order to change the regulations, the Environment Act 1995 demands a full consultation period before any formal amendments can be made. Defra is to issue a consultation paper into possible changes in March.

Responding to a letter from Bruce Terrell of Atlantic Paper (see letsrecycle.com story), Mrs McKinley said: “The minister for environment, Elliot Morley, has asked us to consider whether there is any course of action that we can take now to remedy the situation prior to the amendment of the Regulations. This is what we are currently doing as quickly as we can.”

Problem
The problem highlighted by exporters was that the regulation requires them to name the foreign recycling mills before September 30 the year before the accreditation period for which they are applying. But with rapidly changing global markets for packaging waste, the exporters fear they cannot predict which mills they are likely to use that far in advance.

This would mean the exporters missing out on payments from packaging waste producers through the Packaging waste Export Recovery Note (PERN) system. PERNs can be worth 10 to 50 for every tonne of packaging waste exported for recovery.

Bound
Mrs McKinley said the Environment Agency is legally bound to enforce the rules as set out in the packaging waste regulations amended in 2003. She said the 2003 amendments had been put out to consultation and insisted the views of exporters had not been excluded from the consultation process.

But, Mrs McKinley said Defra are aiming to amend the regulations “as soon as possible”. She explained: “A consultation paper is expected to be published in March this year which could therefore propose changes which could affect accreditation for 2006 activity.”

Mr Terrell and others with an interest in the matter would be kept informed about any proposed action, Mrs McKinley added.