The figures – which are subject to change as more producers submit market data – have been published by the Environment Agency and are available on the National Packing Waste Database.
The data suggests that once aluminium tonnages carried over from 2014 are taken into account, reprocessors will have to recycle 68,119 tonnes of aluminium packaging in 2015.
When compared to the performance in the first quarter of 2015, when 14,956 tonnes was recycled (22% of the obligation), this means that performance in the remaining quarters will have to improve in order for the target to be met.
Some industry experts have claimed the shortfall is due to the removal of the aluminium protocols following criticism that the amount of packaging content in specific grades of material such as ‘old rolled’ aluminium was much lower than originally thought. However, PRNs on aluminium from incinerator bottom ash (IBA)can be claimed – although tonnages for this material have not been forthcoming (see letsrecycle.com story).
The obligation for plastics packaging, which also recorded a shortfall in Q1, stands at 826,892 tonnes tonnes once carry over is taken into account.
Q1
In Q1, 199,245 tonnes of plastic packaging was accepted or exported, which means around 24% of the total requirement for the year was met between January and March.
While the outlook may be brighter than for aluminium, producers may be keen to produce a surplus in PRNs to carry over into 2016 to help meet the government’s plastic recycling target – which is to rise from 47% to 52% next year.
Glass meanwhile continues to perform on-target, with producers sourcing over 25% of the amount of packaging they will need in Q1 to meet demand of 1,443,241 tonnes across both remelt and aggregate applications. This is reflected in the price for glass PRNs, which have remained low throughout 2015.
And steel is also healthy, with 98,265 tonnes recycled in Q1 – almost 30% of its 333,528 tonne demand for 2015, which does not take carry over into account.
Commenting on the figures, Duncan Simpson, director of sales and marketing at packaging compliance business Valpak, said the obligation numbers appeared to be roughly be in line with expectations.
He said: “We do believe that there are some late registrants to report still. In terms of numbers registering, the total is down by about 230 companies which can be as a result of liquidations, mergers and acquisitions. But, we normally get some more back in across the year from free riding and late registrations.”
Mr Simpson added: “The obligation is pretty much in line with growth due to target changes from 7,182, 918 tonnes (2014) to 7,278, 798 tonnes (2015). This suggests a very slight increase in packaging growth. This also may be down to the inclusion of gas cylinders but we don’t believe that this will prove to be significant in terms of growth of obligation. Overall, with the rider of data changing across the year, it would appear the numbers are close to our expected outcome.”
PRN market
Looking to the PRN market this year, Ian Andrews of the Environment Exchange told letsrecycle.com that publication of the Q2 figures later this summer would give a clearer indication of what the supply/demand position will look like for 2015.
He said: “I expect to see growth in demand this year, but whether there will be any sizeable growth we will have to wait and see. People were not about to panic when the plastic figure came out, but now people are realising that does need some work.”
He added: “We are still about seven weeks away from seeing those Q2 supply figures. Plastics has the focus of everyone’s attention, but I would also like to see some improvement in these aluminium figures.”
Phil Conran, director of 360 Environmental and chair of the Advisory Committee on Packaging (ACP), agreed that the amount of aluminium packaging needed was “concerning”.
He added that while plastics was “a bit low”, meeting targets for the material has not been a problem in the past.
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