New packaging targets (and alcohol!)

The European Commission has now issued its plan for revision of the Packaging directive which proposes substantial increases in the amount of packaging and packaging waste that must be recovered and recycled by mid-2006. This highlights the need for the UK to take action in the face of inadequate collection arrangements and reprocessing facilities and "freeloading" by some obligated businesses. Meanwhile an interesting court case illustrates that, even at current levels of performance, the UK's rather complicated "shared responsibility" regime is still not running smoothly.

EU Packaging Proposals

The draft directive sets targets that will have to be met by 30 June 2006 in most EU member states, although Greece, Ireland and Portugal have been offered until 30 June 2009.

The proposed overall targets are:

   * Recovery (recycling and incineration with energy recovery) – 60-75% (currently 50-65%)

   * Recycling 55-70% (currently 25-45%).

The materials specific targets (currently 15% for each material) are:

   * Glass – 60%
   * Paper and board – 55%
   * Metal – 50%
   * Plastics – 20%

Member states are allowed to set a higher target than the European Commission's maximum provided that they have sufficient recycling facilities in their country to deal with the materials and that a higher target does not distort the internal market or hinder other member states' ability to comply with the directive.

The new 20 per cent plastics target will have to be met by mechanical and/or chemical recycling rather than by feedstock recycling. Mechanical recycling is recycling in which no change is made to the chemical structure of the plastic. Chemical recycling involves converting the plastic back into the petrochemicals originally used to make it. Feedstock recycling has a mixture of hydrocarbons as its output and is considered a less environmentally friendly option. Feedstock recycling can, however, count towards the 55-70% recycling target – as can recycling of other packaging materials which are not subject to a specific target, such as wood.

The proposals include guidance on what constitutes packaging – hoping to standardise the approach of member states to items such as carrier bags and plant pots (packaging) and teabags (not packaging).

"Proposal for a directive amending directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste" is available on the EU website.

Brewers and boozers

An interesting example of how the UK's implementation of the EU Packaging directive impacts businesses can be seen in a court case that is being brought by packaging compliance organisation Valpak on behalf of its brewer-members.

The UK chose to implement the directive by creating shared responsibility rules under which different actors in the packaging chain bear different percentage responsibilities for recovering the waste that they handle. The biggest responsibility falls on the packer/ fillers and on the retailers (who must pay to recover 37 per cent and 48 per cent respectively of the packaging that they deal with).

The Environment Agency has to date taken the view that brewers are both packer/ fillers and retailers of the bottled drinks that they supply giving them a total obligation of 85 per cent. The brewers argue that they should only be regarded as packer/ fillers and that the retailers are the pubs and other outlets that sell their drinks to the public.

However the Agency counters that the landlord should be regarded as the end-user since he opens the bottle. Valpak has applied for judicial review of the Agency's stance.

The matter is of some significance in the context of the UK effort to meet directive targets. If the landlords are deemed to be the real retailers many will probably not be classed as obligated businesses since their turnover is below £2million per annum and they handle less than 50 tonnes of waste per year. The Agency would face a considerable enforcement challenge in ascertaining which premises should be covered. The result would almost certainly be a fall in the total amount of packaging handled by obligated businesses (estimated at 100,000 tonnes) leading to an increase in the amount that those businesses that are within the regulations must pay to recover in order for the UK to meets its targets.
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