Have Your Say: Government opens EPR and PPT consultations

Two Government consultations are now underway on environmental policies that may affect you. These consultations focus on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging and the Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT). This is your chance to actively participate in the decision-making process and make a meaningful impact on environmental policy.

Extended Producer Responsibility is a system whereby obligated packaging producers will be required to fund the full net cost of the collection, sorting, treatment of packaging waste as well as the actual recycling of packaging. It is the principle that the direct cost of specific packaging recycling should be met by the those placing the packaging onto the UK market. Transferring the responsibility from the taxpayer and placing it onto brand owners and producers. This tool incentivises packaging producers to use easy to recycle packaging materials by introducing a modulated fee system where hard to recycle materials incur a higher Local Authority Waste Management Fee.

The aim of Defra’s consultation is to gather views on how the approach, set out in the government’s consultation response of March 2022 is reflected in the draft regulations. The consultation seeks feedback on the operability of the implementation arrangements as well as on specific matters to help inform the EPR schemes design such as modulated fees.

Defra are also consulting on the clarity of the regulations and the requirements they place on different parties such as obligated producers, exporters, reprocessors, compliance schemes, local authorities and councils, the scheme administrator and the regulators. The consultation seeks to identify any ambiguities in the text of draft regulations.

The Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT) is a strategic initiative aimed at reducing the environmental footprint of plastic waste. As an economic tool, the tax incentivises businesses to rethink their use of plastic packaging, pushing them towards adopting more eco-friendly alternatives. The funds generated through this tax will be directed towards initiatives that promote recycling, the circular economy models, and other sustainable practices.

HMRC are consulting on the impacts of chemical recycling for plastics and the application of a mass balance approach to determine the amount of chemically recycled plastic for the purpose of PPT. The consultation seeks insights from industry on the viability of a mass balanced approach and whether it should be an accepted way of allocating recycled plastic content for packaging and the standards that should be adopted to protect the integrity of the tax

Your input matters significantly in these consultations. Your insights can influence the implementation and design of significant environmental policy, shaping how PPT and EPR is managed going forward.

Participating in this consultation empowers you to actively contribute to the development of more sustainable, responsible and economically viable policy. Your opinions will play a role in guiding policies that have far-reaching implications for the environment, business practices, and the overall well-being of our planet.