UK packaging producer responsibility system reform: partial island communities screening assessment

Policy objectives and intended outcomes

8. According to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), more than 10 million tonnes of packaging waste is produced every year in the UK.^[3] A substantial part of packaging waste ends up in landfill, two-thirds of which could instead be recovered, resulting in avoidable environmental costs. It is estimated that the current extended producer responsibility (EPR) system covers only around 10% of the total cost of managing post-use packaging waste, which means that local authorities and wider society must bear much of the cost.^[4]

9. It is clear that the current packaging responsibility system does not meet the requirement that producers bear financial responsibility for the impacts of products they place on the market, and are incentivised to reduce these impacts, as packaging producers do not bear the full financial responsibility for the end-of-life management of packaging and are not responsible for the negative environmental externalities created by their packaging.

10. The objectives of reforming the UK packaging EPR system are to:

a. Increase packaging recycled

b. Increase the recyclability of packaging

c. Reduce unnecessary packaging (not qualified in this partial screening assessment)

d. Improve the environment

e. Increase domestic recycling and reprocessing capacity

f. Enhance data reporting

11. The current consultation,^[5] agreed jointly by the Scottish Government, UK Government, Welsh Government and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland (DAERA), is on a policy that will replace an existing packaging EPR scheme,^[6]. It will apply to the whole of the UK, including island communities. It should be noted that the full impacts will not be assessed until the final scheme design has been agreed in light of responses to the consultation.