To borrow from Plato, strange times are these in which we live. While organisations and individuals are assessing a multitude of issues that result from coronavirus Covid-19, inevitable questions about what the outbreak means for recycling targets and compliance with the government’s laws on producer responsibility for packaging, electronics and batteries have already arisen.
The waste sector has largely welcomed the government’s Budget 2020, though stakeholders have called for further clarity on the forthcoming Plastics Packaging Tax.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has approved the fifth phase of its Distributor Takeback Scheme (DTS) for waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), which will see large retailers operate in-store take-back schemes from 2021.
Recycling Technologies has joined forces with energy company Total and global brands Nestlé and Mars to develop an industrial chemical recycling industry in France.
Environmental compliance scheme Ecosurety has launched a £1 million fund to support projects tackling the environmental impacts of packaging, batteries or waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE).
Provisional packaging data for the third quarter of 2019 shows that all packaging materials remain on track to meet their 2019 recycling targets, with plastics and aluminium staging recoveries.
MP since 2017, Anna McMorrin joined Parliament with a drive to tackle the UK’s environmental issues, hitting out against single-use plastic waste and tabling a bill on extended producer responsibility for packaging. Resource finds out more
Enthusiasm to simplify the recycling instructions on packaging risks throwing the baby out with the bathwater, writes Simon Weston, Director of Raw Materials for the Confederation of Paper Industries.
The Scottish Government has submitted legislation for the introduction of its deposit return scheme (DRS) for beverage containers, with the scheme currently slated for a 1 April 2021 commencement date.
A new EU regulation requires that online retailers take responsibility for compliance documentation on electrical items if there is no appointed manufacturers’ representative.
Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) has launched an inquiry into the environmental and human health impacts of electronic waste (e-waste) and the opportunities for the circular economy for electronic goods.
The Advisory Committee on Packaging (ACP) has stated that some form of packaging compliance fee could be introduced in 2020, but that the tight legislative timetable would preclude its introduction in 2019.
The Packaging Scheme Forum has warned of a looming crisis in the packaging recycling industry, with the price of Packaging Recovery Notes (PRNs) for plastic rising while recycling rates drop. Could a packaging compliance fee be the solution?
Key stakeholders from across the packaging supply chain have written to Environment Secretary Michael Gove to outline their priorities for the next stage of delivery of the Resources and Waste Strategy.
The government is consulting on reforms to the UK’s packaging producer responsibility regime. So what are Defra’s proposals for a new system and how have businesses responded so far? Ecosurety and SUEZ comment.
