The Stratford-based company already dominates the existing producer responsibility system for packaging waste and is active in the developing system for waste electronics.
” We will aim to use the experience we have established in producer responsibility to determine the best solution for the farming industry. “
– Adrian Hawkes, Valpak
Valpak has been chosen to run the research programme by the business arm of the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management, which is delivering the programme on behalf of the government-industry group, the Agricultural Waste Stakeholders Forum.
The programme comes after the government announced last month that it would introduce compulsory producer responsibility for non-packaging farm plastics (see letsrecycle.com story). Packaging waste arising on farms is already subject to producer responsibility.
The 1 million funding is being provided from Landfill Tax revenue through Defra's Business Resource Efficiency and Waste (BREW) initiative.
Adrian Hawkes, director of policy at Valpak, said: “This is a natural extension to our existing work in packaging and WEEE compliance and we will aim to use the experience we have established in producer responsibility to determine the best solution for the farming industry and its supply chain as a whole.”
About 65,000 tonnes of waste plastics from the UK's 137,000 farms fall outside the remit of the existing packaging waste producer responsibility system. The new non-packaging scheme will help farmers deal with the new agricultural waste controls, which come into affect in May (see letsrecycle.com story).
Valpak beat off bids for the contract from Enviros, ERM, Hyder, PERA and SLR Consulting, but has teamed up with the ex-governmental agriculture consultancy ADAS to address concerns from the project's management board that it needed to strengthen its “farm knowledge and skills”.
Dr Andrew Ainsworth, government account manager at ADAS, said: “This unique partnership brings ADAS' knowledge, skills and expertise in farming systems and agricultural waste management alongside Valpak's experience of producer responsibility. Our joint aim is to develop a scheme that is sustainable both environmentally and economically in the long term.”
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Outlining the terms of the work, the CIWM insisted the programme would not be about “subsidising loss-making collection schemes” for non-packaging farm plastics.
The programme will start by assessing current collection, reprocessing and treatment activity, and will then progress to work with government officials on developing sufficient collection infrastructure for producer responsibility to be effective. This will include consideration of possible charging mechanisms, target regimes and monitoring systems.
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