Valpak EPR report helps producers navigate “unprecedented transformation” in UK packaging legislation

31 May 2021 --- Recycling consultancy Valpak has released a report to help packaging companies navigate the uncertainties around the UK’s upcoming legislation on Extended-Producer Responsibility (EPR) for Packaging Waste. 

Set to come into force in 2023, EPR will see the full cost of collecting household waste shift from the taxpayer to producers. The legislation aims to incentivize the reprocessing of greater quantities of recyclable waste into valuable, high-quality secondary resources.

Increasing packaging recycling via the new system could also reduce an estimated 4.38 million tons of carbon between 2022 and 2032. However, the projected cost of compliance will rise from £230 million (US$326 million) to £2.7 billion (US$3.8 billion) in 2024. 

“Under the modulated fee system, some packaging materials will bear a greater portion of the cost,” notes James Skidmore, Valpak’s head of consulting. 

Modulated fees
Modulated fees are obligatory costs that liable businesses will have to pay depending on the recyclability of the packaging they put on the market. Those using difficult-to-recycle, unrecycled or unrecyclable packaging will likely see higher compliance costs through the reformed legislation.

Notably, the UK recycled 8.2 million metric tons of packaging in 2020 under the current packaging recovering note system, but a “substantial volume” of packaging still goes unrecycled. 

The EPR legislation is expected to raise producer costs from £230 million to £2.7 billion.Ahead of the UK packaging scene’s “unprecedented transformation,” Valpak’s Packflow EPR report breaks down the figures and forecasts the impact on different materials, incorporating data from its Environment Product Information Centre database.

Preparing for change
The Packflow EPR analysis details an overview of suggested EPR changes with respective impacts on different areas of the supply chain. 

The report provides scenarios showing the potential scale of fee modulation, including the impact of new responsibilities for litter management. Possible environmental impacts are also discussed.

Its three modulation scenarios are: 

• A flat, per-ton cost for recycling and disposal.
• Replacing the “flat rate” with a three-tier, modulated value for each material.
• A “traffic-light” method, which has the potential to drive positive change in packaging design. It also reflects the likely distribution of costs, based on the recyclability of individual packaging. 

Packaging items not in scope of EPR are beverage containers made wholly or mainly of PET, glass, steel or aluminum. This leaves out most beverage bottles and cans, whose management will be covered by introducing deposit return schemes.

(Credit: Valpak/Packflow EPR)A week left to comment
The new EPR legislation is expected to come into effect in a phased approach from 2023, with the first payments made in spring 2024, but Valpak expects before April/May 2024 is “more likely.”

Meanwhile, the new Plastic Packaging Tax will come into force in April 2022. The tax will apply to plastic packaging produced in or imported into the UK not containing at least 30 percent recycled plastic.

The modulated fee system encourages more sustainable packaging design through higher fees for less recyclable packaging.The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, and the Welsh and Scottish governments have published updated proposals for regulatory reform, which build on those first published in spring 2019. 

The public consultation on the suggested reforms ends on June 4. “We stand on the brink of the greatest changes to the Packaging Waste Regulations in a quarter of a century,” states Skidmore. 

“This consultation represents the most important opportunity for everyone to have their say into how the system could operate for a long time to come.”

By Anni Schleicher