Defra issued a new data bulletin for packaging waste recovery today, showing the amount of packaging waste reported by obligated businesses up to July 22, 2004.
Since 1999, the amount of packaging waste reported by the obligated businesses has increased by almost 600,000 tonnes, from 8,090,728 tonnes in 1999 to 8,625,395 tonnes in 2004 (using figures up to July 22), with about half of that increase occurring in the last 12 months.
Environment minister Elliot Morley is known to be concerned at the increase in the amount of packaging waste obligated for recycling. An increasing amount makes it more difficult for the UK to reach the next European packaging waste recovery targets in 2008.
Under the UK packaging regulations, businesses that handle 50 tonnes of packaging a year, or have a turnover above 2 million, are obligated to pay for their share of UK packaging waste recovery (see letsrecycle.com legislation section).
The number of businesses in the UK that have reported themselves as obligated under the regulations has increased from 4,250 in 1999 to 6,288 in 2004. The Defra figures show that about 16% of UK packaging waste is handled by companies too small to be obligated or companies above the threshold that (illegally) do not report themselves as obligated.
Obligation data
The packaging waste reported by obligated businesses in 2003 and in 2004 (as of July 22) was as follows:
| Paper | 3,248,781 | 3,347,907 | Glass | 1,870,879 | 1,915,903 | Aluminium | 126,513 | 133,678 | Steel | 606,635 | 655,031 | Plastic | 1,612,904 | 1,717,677 | Wood | 800,093 | 816,626 | Other | 20,972 | 38,573 | Total | 8,286,776 | 8,625,395 |
* as of July 22, 2004
Obligated businesses pay for their share of packaging waste recovery through the purchase of packaging waste recovery notes (PRNs), which are issued by reprocessors for every tonnes of material they recycle. The number of reprocessors accredited to issue PRNs has fallen from 299 in 2003 to 276 in 2004, while the number of reprocessors accredited to issue export-PRNs (PERNs) has remained at 106 in 2004.
Recovery
Using these latest provisional Defra figures (the amounts are expected to increase slightly further when all data is received) UK reprocessors will have to recover a total of 5,433,999 tonnes of packaging waste to reach the 63% business recover target for 2004 (see UK targets) .
With Defra's decree that 94% of this recovery should be through recycling rather than energy-from-waste, reprocessors will have to recycle at least 5,107,960 tonnes of material.
In the material streams, the following recycling requirements will need to be met in 2004 (this figures could increase slightly if further obligation data is reported):
| Material | Recovery achieved in 2003 (t) | Recovery required in 2004 (t) |
| Paper | 2,428,593 | 2,176,140 | Glass | 861,948 | 938,792 | Aluminium | 31,831 | 34,756 | Steel | 304,520 | 343,891 | Plastic | 402,090 | 369,300 | Wood | 756,842 | 146,993 | Material Specific Recycling | 4,785,824 | 4,009,872 | 94% Recycling Obligation | 5,107,960 | Total Recovery Obligation | 5,385,204 | 5,433,999 |
The figures suggest that this year's recovery will meet with the demand from obligated businesses fairly easily if increases in the glass and metals sectors are achieved. Many in the sector are now less concerned with how difficult it will be to reach the 2004 targets, but are more concerned with how the tougher targets will be met over the years up to the Packaging Directive target year 2008.
For the full packaging waste data note released by Defra, see the Defra packaging waste data website.
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