The schemes it runs for batteries, packaging and waste electrical equipment – BatteryBack, PackCare and WeeeCare – are merging to form WasteCare Compliance plc.
In conjunction with the consolidation, WasteCare is launching what it describes as a “revolutionary new approach” to producer compliance, meaning obligated businesses “will no longer have to commit to buying evidence without first knowing the cost”.
Costs
WasteCare’s chairman Peter Hunt said: “This is not simply a tidying up exercise. Producer compliance costs are seen by many businesses as a tax and to make it worse they are expected to commit to a scheme without being told the likely costs at the outset.
“Auto-renewing contracts also mean businesses can become trapped in a scheme where there is little or no accountability or visibility in relation to the underlying costs.”
Mr Hunt said as many as 4,000 registered producers of packaging, electrical equipment and batteries each year are contracted to buy packaging PRNs and battery and waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) evidence to meet their legal obligation without knowing the final cost.
Established in 1980, WasteCare says it now recycles more than 1,000 different waste streams from all commercial and industrial sectors alongside its compliance activities.
Consolidation
WasteCare says the consolidation of its producer compliance schemes provides its 1,100 members with several benefits.
These include the publication of membership and evidence costs in advance, guaranteed fixed evidence prices, and offset and rebates for internally generated waste. It also offers reduced fees for multiple membership and a guarantee that the markup on evidence “never exceeds 5% of the cost”.
WasteCare says that as a recycling business it produces more than 95% of the evidence needed by its members, selling the surplus to other compliance schemes. The company said that in knowing the associated costs, it can fix the recoverable value in advance, enabling it to underwrite its members’ obligations.
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