PACKAGING data firm Ecoveritas has warned that further delays in publishing detailed guidance places the timetable for extended producer responsibility (EPR) reforms at risk.
It said a low-carbon path to circularity in the UK hangs on the policy which has been delayed until 2024. It is designed to help ensure unnecessary packaging is avoided, more is designed to be recycled, the quality of recycling improves, and there is less littering.
Ecoveritas said that the whilst need for better understanding, identification, and management of waste is crucial to improving recycling rates, the gathering of data from different parts of the value chain creates a ‘data burden’. It added that businesses of all different shapes and sizes will have brand-new, complex obligations to meet.
Josh Remi, Ecoveritas commercial manager, said, “It is effectively a second waste and recycling revolution and we are on the cusp of revolutionary changes. Yet the government continues to take the blasé approach to another level.
“What businesses need, right now, is detailed guidance. Keep in mind that some businesses don’t even know obligations are coming. They need time to set up effective IT and reporting systems, so they are well prepared for the heavy data requirements when the legislation begins.
“We need more robust data-collection and tracking methods to provide a full end-to-end picture of how waste is collected, transferred, processed, and reused, and to identify areas of improvement in the processing and recycling of waste. This generates a huge data burden for entire supply chains.
“Although the original start date of EPR has been pushed back a year to 2024, we must not be fooled into thinking that this gives us plenty of time – keep in mind that reporting will need to cover packaging placed on the market from January to December 2023. There is a huge amount to do on a relatively short time scale – the new system will require so much more data than businesses are accustomed to collecting under the current system Producers and packaging manufacturers are moving into a more challenging world – and arguably they should if they are to truly reduce the environmental impact of their packaging.”
