Ben Sasson
Senior Associate
Article
5
In our Green Matters series[1], we referred to the forthcoming introduction of more stringent producer responsibility requirements in the recently published Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) through the Government's Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme. The Government has now introduced new reporting regulations which apply to all UK organisations that import or supply packaging. In this article, we outline what this means for producers and suppliers of packaging, and what steps they will need to take to comply with the Environment Agency's new reporting requirements.
The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 2007 (S.I. 2007/871) include obligations on producers to recycle packaging waste in order to attain overall recycling and material-specific recycling targets. An overall recycling target, as well as material-specific recycling targets are set annually. The targets for 2023 on obligated producers in England and Wales in relation to glass, plastic, aluminium, steel, paper/board and wood are set out in government guidance.[2]
On 17 March, the Government updated its guidance for producers to refer to the EPR scheme.[3]The updated EPR guidance incorporates the introduction of new regulations, the Packaging Waste (Data Reporting) (England) Regulations 2023/219 (the "Packaging Data Regulations")[4] which came into force on 28 February 2023.
The Packaging Data Regulations will apply to all UK organisations that import or supply packaging to collect data on the packaging they supply to others, and, in some cases, they will be obliged to report some of that information to the Environment Agency.
The Packaging Data Regulations require organisations to collect and report packaging data if all the following apply:
Companies under the EPR scheme are classified as a "small" or "large" organisations based on their annual turnover and how much packaging they supply or import each year.
These Packaging Data Regulations impose obligations to:
If your organisation has all the required data from 1 January 2023, then annual reporting for this year should be from this date. If your organisation does not have all of this data, then reporting should include data from 1 March 2023. Details on the submission of when reporting data is due and the relevant fees payable will be published and updated within government guidance.
If you would like to speak to us about any sustainability issues presented in this article, including how your organisation can take steps to comply with the new EPR scheme and the Packaging Data Regulations, please contact either associate Ben Sasson or sustainability partner Ben Stansfield.
Footnotes:
[1] The UK EIP - new goals for resources and waste | Gowling WLG
[2] Packaging waste: producer responsibilities - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
[3] Extended producer responsibility for packaging: who is affected and what to do - GOV.UK
[4] The Packaging Waste (Data Reporting) (England) Regulations 2023
NOT LEGAL ADVICE. Information made available on this website in any form is for information purposes only. It is not, and should not be taken as, legal advice. You should not rely on, or take or fail to take any action based upon this information. Never disregard professional legal advice or delay in seeking legal advice because of something you have read on this website. Gowling WLG professionals will be pleased to discuss resolutions to specific legal concerns you may have.