Schemes expected to comply with glass obligation

Packaging compliance schemes will be expected to meet their glass recycling obligations for 2012, an Environment Agency official has said.

Chris Grove, the Agencys environment and business senior advisor told delegates at the Working Together: Meeting Packaging Waste Targets in 2013 conference organised by letsrecycle.com in London yesterday (November 27), that schemes are expected to have in place contingency plans to ensure they meet their obligations.

Mr Groves assertion comes as some in the packaging waste sector consider that the glass target for 2012 might not be met by some packaging waste compliance schemes.

Figures published on the Agencys National Packaging Waste Database last month showed that glass packaging collections had been lower than required during the first three quarters of the year, with schemes needing a further 565,000 tonnes in Q4 for to meet their obligation of 1.7 million tonnes (see letsrecycle.com story).

And, many schemes have commented that the shortfall in glass collected during the first nine months of the year would make compliance very difficult unless collections significantly increased.

Enforcement

But, Mr Grove said that any schemes found not to be compliant during 2012 would find themselves subject to investigation and enforcement action by the Agency with a range of options available which include a formal caution or prosecution.

He said: We are in a demanding position with glass, for me it is about recognising what the responsibilities are and it is about meeting that recycling obligation. To many that is a signal that the market based system is not working, but schemes must consider what am I doing as a compliance scheme to address that blip in the market?

The fact that we have had low prices for a number of years is good, and people are forgetting that now that they are facing higher costs. You have to say perhaps that is taking the rough with the smooth in the market system.

We have been asked what our expectation is for 2012, and we expect schemes to comply with their obligations. I dont know if there will be enough glass to comply, but if there is failure to comply, we have a set process to undergo and where appropriate, enforcement action would be taken.

Mr Grove outlined enforcement action for non-registration under the packaging waste system carried out by the Environment Agency during 2012, revealing that four prosecutions have taken place to date, with fines totalling 40,000 being awarded. He also discussed the effects of civil sanctions, brought in on January 4 2011, which allow businesses to volunteer to pay the cost of environmental offences rather than face legal action.

Finally Mr Grove discussed work being done to review the Producer Responsibility system in line with the coalition governments aim to reduce red tape for businesses, noting that there were 31 coherence issues being examined within the system with a view to being amended, including the registration for compliance schemes and information, conditions of approval and the threshold at which producer responsibility requirements apply to businesses.