SEPA packaging report shows Wastepack membership soaring

SEPA had 127 companies registered directly with it and routine monitoring of 88 of these led to the resubmission of data from 15.

But, the Agency has emphasised that the resubmissions were not as a result of deliberate data errors by the companies.
Karen Riddick head of producer responsibility at SEPA, explained: “There are all sorts of reasons for the resubmissions, the figures could be under or over what the firms should have put. Our guidance on how they should be calculated over the past few years has also been amended and trade association advice may not always be totally correct.”

The figures, contained in the Agency's annual Monitoring Strategy, show how it is delivering its duties to enforce the packaging waste regulations of 1997.

The report highlights how in 2000 the value to Scottish reprocessors of the packaging waste recovery note (PRN) fell to an average of 7.34 compared to 8.49 a year earlier. In 2000 394,877 PRNs were issued by Scottish accredited reprocessors with a revenue gained of 2.89 million.

Wastepack

SEPA has a significant role in regulating the UK's second largest compliance scheme Wastepack which is registered in Scotland.

The report notes that Wastepack has a recovery obligation for 2001 of 393,226 tonnes, which is substantially up on its target for 2000 which stood at 286,609. In 2000 it had 381 members, a figure which has risen to about 469 this year.

The report also comments on how Wastepack has complied with its consumer information obligations – the part of the regulations which require companies who are members of a scheme to show how they are promoting recycling to the public. Wastepack complied through developing and maintaining its Pink Bag Scheme which operates in Ipswich and involves the collection of household waste from 36,000 homes with delivery to a materials recycling facility for sorting and subsequent recycling. SEPA notes that “the scheme is being expanded and developed in Scotland and other parts of the UK.”

The Pink Bag Scheme involves householders placing recyclables into bags which are collected at the same time as household waste. The bags are then sorted out for recycling in a tipping hall at the MRF which is close to a landfill site.
Much of the plastic packaging waste from the Pink Bag scheme is exported. Officials from SEPA audited the plastic packaging waste being exported by Wastepack which involved inspection of five sites in China and one site in Dubai.