Did You Know - How a Producer's Responsibility Obligations Might Affect Your Business?

Did you know that if your company handles more than 50 tonnes of packaging a year and has a turnover of more than £2 million then you have to recover and recycle a specified tonnage of packaging waste annually? Where a group of companies is involved, the calculation of the tonnage of packaging a year and the annual turnover would be the total packaging handled and the total turnover, taking into account the aggregate of all the subsidiaries of the group. This legal obligation is specific to manufacturers of packaging, converters of raw material into packaging, fillers of packaging, sellers of packaging to final users, service providers related to packaging, and importers of packaging goods; with the aim to increase the recovery and recycling of packaging waste, with priority to reducing the amount of packaging used and the reuse of packaging.

To comply with these "Producer Responsibility Obligations" you are obliged to join a registered compliance scheme, register with the Environment Agency, or if your turnover is £5 million or less, utilise the allocation method provided. Compliance with these legal obligations is demonstrated by providing evidence using the electronic Packaging Waste Recovery Notes issued electronically by accredited reprocessors (if your waste is exported you will also need the equivalent note from an accredited exporter). Failure to comply with any of these legal obligations is an offence, which can be brought before the High Court and the penalties regime is a criminal that would include the imposition of a fine. For example, the Environment Agency recently charged a reputable Italian restaurant chain for such an offence.

The restaurant chain, which handles a range of packaging, fell within the thresholds specified by the Producer Responsibility Obligations but had failed to register with either the Environment Agency or a compliance scheme and to take reasonable steps to recover and recycle its packaging waste. On prosecution, the company was fined £15,000 for breaching the packaging waste regulation and was ordered to pay an additional £4,159 compensation and £2,400 in costs to the Environment Agency.

The company's non-compliance also has the cumulative effect of undermining the achievement of the United Kingdom's business targets on the recovery and recycling of packaging waste, which stands at an overall recovery rate of 68% with the minimum amount of 92% to be achieved through recycling. Indeed, the United Kingdom government requires that companies should use the business targets to calculate their recovery and recycling obligations, which incidentally, are set a level higher than the Directive requires due to the fact that not all businesses that handle packaging satisfy the threshold test - which is why the business targets are used to bridge the difference. It is also worth noting that non-compliance can generate negative publicity which can in turn damaged the long term reputation of the company and the possible goodwill of customers. It therefore makes sense that you check to make sure you either fall below these legal thresholds or that you are complaint if you exceed them.

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