PRNs – packaging waste recovery notes – are the evidence bought by packaging producers or their compliance schemes from recyclers to show they have carried out their legal producer responsibility to pay for packaging to be recycled.
The Environment Agency has now written to compliance schemes to inform them that they have purchased sufficient evidence of packaging recovery in 2005. The confirmation of compliance is subject to verification that the PRNs purchased are valid.
Of the 19 compliance schemes registered with the Environment Agency, 16 have confirmed to letsrecycle.com that they have purchased sufficient PRNs to meet their Defra targets.
The Agency has yet to reveal publicly the whole compliance picture for the schemes it regulates, but has a legal deadline to report compliance with the regulations to Defra during February.
Although there were some who strongly believed it could be difficult to purchase sufficient PRNs for all materials last year, it seems recovery levels sufficiently picked up to allow targets to be met. Expectations are that only a number of independently-registered packaging producers may fail to comply this year.
Compliance
The English-registered schemes that have reported confirmation of their compliance to letsrecycle.com so far are:
|
|
Challenging
Commenting on last year's compliance period, many schemes such as Complypak reported a “challenging” year, particularly in meeting metal packaging recovery targets.
Andrew Francis, managing director of Complypak, said, “I am pleased to report that, in a challenging year for the PRN system, Complypak has achieved full compliance with the regulations for 2005. This marks another successful year for Complypak.”
Some schemes coped well by purchasing sufficient PRNs early, or by establishing firm long-term relationships with packaging reprocessors sufficient to guarantee the supply of PRNs. The downside reported by some schemes in maintaining longer-term relationships was that glass PRN prices dropped towards the end of the year, and some schemes locked in contracts could not pass on the benefits to their members.
Andy Fay of Kite Environmental Solutions said although it had been a more challenging year than previous years, his compliance scheme had prepared well for any difficulties. He also pointed out that his members did not have large recycling obligations in the metal streams.
Stability
While some of the compliance schemes escaped with comparatively small metal obligations, Matthew Pearson of Toddpak said he had achieved full compliance despite his scheme members having a steel obligation of 16,000 tonnes.
| Related links: |
He said: “Financial stability is key to a scheme. We're a family business, and deal with a lot of small reprocessors, building up a strong relationship over a long time.”
The potential shortage of steel PRNs last year – feared because of a slow-down in exports early on in the year – did not appear to arise. Compliance schemes suggested one factor in this was the late accreditation of steel reprocessors Alpha and the fact that the Agency allowed PRNs to be backdated. Commenting on the difficulties with steel PRNs, Phil Conran of compliance scheme Biffpack said: “The shortage was more perception than reality.”
Subscribe for free