The arrangement is, so far, a “relaxed” one, with no time limit announced and no decisions yet made on the scale of the projects involved. The deal is expected to last at least five years, however, and will see waste from both the municipal and commercial streams going to Valpak's reprocessors in order to generate more PRNs.
Commenting on the deal, Valpak chief executive Jonson Cox said: “This agreement demonstrates how we can forge strong links with the waste management industry to boost recycling levels in the UK. Far too much material that could be recycled is lost to landfill. If the UK is to successfully meet the EU targets, we must embark on more initiatives such as this.”
Valpak has said that once the project comes online, a better idea of the scale of operations will be known. The compliance scheme is looking to compete with other compliance schemes that offer their members a “full service” with strong links to waste management operators.
Confidence
The deal is also another attempt by the compliance scheme to signal its confidence in the packaging waste recovery note (PRN) system of compliance. Towards the end of 2002, the price of PRNs slumped because of a variety of reasons including DEFRA's refusal to raise packaging waste recovery targets for 2003. This led to some questioning the entire PRN system.
However, Mr Cox said: “Our agreement with Waste Recycling is a powerful argument for our current market-based compliance system, and working with both the waste management and reprocessing industries. It shows how PRN funding can significantly boost recycling projects nationwide.”
Valpak has said that no PRN money will be going to WRG at this point, but a spokesman admitted some PRN funds “may be used in the future” as part of the deal.
WRG said that the deal would involve it's operations nationwide but that it was too early to tell what kind of an impact the agreement would have.
The waste firm's chief executive Nigel Sandy said: “Waste Recycling has a significant network of operations with a range of waste management facilities to help our customers meet recycling and recovery objectives. We look forward to creating new recycling opportunities working with Valpak.”
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