Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging (EPR) will
move the full cost of dealing with packaging waste from households away from
local taxpayers and councils to the packaging producers (applying the
'polluter pays principle'), giving producers responsibility for the costs of
their packaging throughout its life cycle. This will encourage producers to
reduce their use of packaging and use packaging which is easier to recycle.
Producers will pay more for less sustainable packaging, incentivising packaging
that uses less material and is easier to recycle. Producers will also be
expected to meet ambitious new recycling targets and use clear unambiguous
labelling of recyclability to make it easy for consumers to do the right thing.
Check out the latest EPR update webinar from Valpak.
EPR Specification:
Click on packaging
data file specification for EPR for the overview page.
Click on how
to collect your packaging data for EPR for guidance on the detailed
descriptions of the different types of data producers need to submit.
Over the weekend Defra released a recording of a webinar
covering EPR legislation in which they changed their position in regard to
logistical labels carrying a brand name added by packer/fillers counting as the
packaging being branded.
Essentially, Defra had previously indicated that due to the
wording of the EPR legislation, brand owners would unintentionally be obligated
where a logistical label bearing their brand name was added to transit
packaging by packer/fillers. This would have meant that the whole packaging was
classified as ‘branded’ and so the brand owner’s responsibility rather than the
packer/filler, as had been Defra’s original intention.
Over the weekend Defra announced that this position had
changed. They now believe that there is no issue with the wording of the
legislation and so responsibility for transit packaging, even where a
logistical label with a brand name has been added, sits with the packer/filler
for packaging placed on the market in 2023, with no need for the legislation to
be amended.
If you have an EPR
question or query don’t hesitate to email eprhelp@bpif.org.uk.