Another month and another flurry of activity in the waste policy world…..its a bit like buses, you wait for one then three come along at once!
Last week I travelled up to Glasgow for the annual LARAC Scotland conference, and amongst the topics discussed was EPR, and I’d like to extend my thanks once again to the EPR DEFRA team for attending the conference to inform attendees about the latest updates.
On 1st May 2024, the EPR draft regulations were officially sent to the European Union (EU) for Northern Ireland and notified to the World Trade Organisation (WTO). It is intended that packaging EPR legislation will be brought before the UK Parliament later this year, aiming for implementation by 1 January 2025.
This is significant in terms of moving the policy forwards, although there is still a lot of work to be completed in the background. Not least, the development of processes for determining the measure of effectiveness demonstrated by Local Authorities. I attended a workshop with a number of other key stakeholders, where various aspects and options were discussed regarding how effectiveness should be measured. This is no mean feat, as the differences across the board in terms of rurality, deprivation and housing type – to name a few – that impact on effectiveness are extremely varied. LARAC is continuing to work with DEFRA on the development of this.
With regards to DRS, it was announced that the start of the scheme is being further delayed until October 2027.
Within the EPR draft regulations, a provision has been included that ensures that if a Deposit Return Scheme has not been established by 1 January 2028, producers of drinks containers made of PET plastic, aluminium, and steel will be subject to the full range of packaging EPR obligations until a DRS is operational for this material.
LARAC has concerns over this decision, as it will mean a significant timescale of potentially nearly three years where drinks containers of the type described, wont be subject to payments either through pEPR nor DRS, which falls outside of the producer pays principle. LARAC are continuing to lobby government on this point.
And lastly (but by no means least) DEFRA finally issued further details on the Simpler Recycling reforms, and it was with extreme disappointment that LARAC and other Local Authority and industry stakeholders learnt that despite a wealth of evidence which shows that less frequent residual collections significantly boost recycling rates, DEFRA is continuing to encourage weekly residual collections.
I have lost count of the number of meetings, webinars and forums I have attended where this issue has been raised, and I don’t know of any stakeholders who agree with this non sensical decision. Again, LARAC will continue to lobby Government and ensure that the Local Authority voice is heard loud and clear in this regard.
