What is the directive?
The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 2007 were designed to make producers (see below) of packaging responsible for the recovery and recycling of packaging waste they place on the market. The UK has a highly successful and unique system called the Packaging Waste Recovery Note / PRN system which is a market based system.
The Directive places legal obligations on organisations who meet two specific thresholds:
Simply ignoring these obligations is not an option with fines increasing and the Environment Agency / SEPA actively targeting ‘freeriders‘.
What is covered under the regulations?
Am I defined as a producer?
If your company participates in any of the following packaging activities, it is defined as a PRODUCER and it is likely it will be obligated under the regulations:
The Regulations are NOT related to packaging handled onsite by your company (unless the packaging is imported)
If I’m obligated, what do I have to do?
By joining Co2Compliance, your one legal responsibility is to collate your annual packaging data and submit it to us. All other legal responsibilities are outsourced to Co2Compliance at this point.
What if I do nothing?
If you choose to do nothing and continue non-compliance you are subjecting your company to the risk of fines (the highest so far for non-compliance being £271,000), legal action from the Environment Agency and bad publicity.