Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 2005
Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 2005
Producer Responsibility has featured heavily in European policies and legislation for a number of years. This includes legislation for the producers of waste for packaging, vehicles and the waste electrical and electronic equipment in terms of waste reduction and recycling targets and the usage of certain substances.
Although no producer responsibility currently exists for the construction industry it is likely that in 10 to 15 years an ‘End of Life Buildings Directive' will be developed, by which the industry will have to apportion responsibility for the houses they build, maintain and demolish and the waste generated at each stage. It therefore makes sense to start working with the product manufacturers, designers, specifiers and clients to address these issues. For instance, few houses built today will be able to be deconstructed at the end of their life using current technologies.
Packaging waste is already covered by producer responsibility legislation and the BRE figures suggest that as much as a quarter of waste on site by volume can be packaging waste (especially during the fit out stages). Packaging issues need to be addressed within the supply chain and the procurement of materials and the use of returnable and reusable packaging needs to be encouraged.
Summary
The 1997 Regulations aimed to increase the recycling of packaging waste by making UK businesses that perform an activity on packaging (e.g. manufacturing raw materials for packaging; converting materials into packaging; filling packaging; selling packaging to the final user, leasing out packaging or importing packaging/ packaging materials into the UK), have a turnover greater than £2million and who handle more than 50 tonnes of packaging per year (excluding that which is exported) responsible for the cost of recycling within the UK.
The 1999 Regulations amendment required that sellers provide their customers with information on methods of re-use, recovery and recycling of packaging and packaging waste.
The 2005 Regulations set new packaging recovery and recycling targets for Member States to meet by 31 December 2008. The requirements of the Directive will have been transposed once the 2005 Regulations are in force. The 2005 Regulations extend to Great Britain. Minimum recovery is set at 60%.
Implications
There are no direct implications on building contractors, however businesses selling construction goods will be affected if they meet the above criteria. These companies will be assigned an amount of waste to recycle each year (either by directly recycling goods or by purchasing Packaging Recycling Notes - PRNs) based on the amount of packaging that they handled the previous year.
Building contractors will be indirectly affected by the Regulations if the cost of construction goods changes to reflect the seller's need to purchase PRNs or the costs involved in recycling packaging waste themselves. Ultimately the Regulations should encourage sellers to push for, and manufacturers to manufacture, reduced levels of packaging. This will then impact on the amount of waste that contractors have to dispose of and therefore their disposal costs.
The 1999 amendment means that builders should have the information necessary to deal with packaging waste.
Overlaps
None identified.
Opportunities
By supporting reductions in packaging builders can influence a reduction in their disposal costs in the long term.
Guidance
Full details of the regulation is available from:
Defra provide a guidance document at:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/topics/packaging/pdf/guidance-licensors.pdf