The UK produces around 10 million tonnes of packaging waste every year, most of which is disposed of in landfill sites.

The EC Directive on Packaging & Packaging Waste (94/62 EC) aims to minimise this disposal by setting targets for recycling and recovering packaging waste. From 2001, Directive targets require that at least 50% of the UK's packaging waste must be re-utilised through recycling and other recovery methods.

The UK has implemented the Directive through two sets of Regulations.  The Packaging (Essential Requirements) Regulations 1998 require that packaging be minimised, that it be capable of recovery and recycling and that it contain only restricted amounts of certain hazardous substances.  The Packaging (Essential Requirements) Regulations are enforced by Local Authority Trading Standards/Consumer Protection Departments and are not featured on this web site.  Further information can be obtained from the following links

• Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR):
  http:www.berr.gov.uk/innovation/sustainability/packaging/page29072.html
  
  
• Local Authorities Co-ordinators of Regulatory Services:
  http://www.lacors.com/pages/trade/lacors.asp

The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 2007 (www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2007/uksi_20070871_en.pdf) provide the statutory framework by which the UK must meet the minimum recovery and recycling targets contained in the Directive.  These Regulations place obligations on all UK companies that have a turnover exceeding £2 million and that handle more than 50 tonnes of packaging per annum.


Do these Regulations affect you?

The Regulations are likely to affect companies that:

• have a turnover exceeding £2 million;
  
  and;
• handle more than 50 tonnes of packaging per annum. 

Packaging is defined as “all products made of any materials of any nature to be used for the containment, protection handling, delivery and presentation of goods, from raw materials to processed goods, from the producer to the user or consumer, including non-returnable items used for the same purpose but only where the products are-

a)      sales packaging or primary packaging, that is to say packaging conceived so as to constitute a sales unit to the final user or consumer at the point of purchase

b)      grouped packaging or secondary packaging, that is to say packaging conceived so as to constitute at the point of purchase a grouping of certain number of sales units whether the latter is sold as such to the final user or consumer or whether it serves only as a means to replenish the shelves at the point of sale; it ca be removed without affecting its characteristics; or

c)      transport packaging or tertiary packaging, that is to say packaging conceived so as to facilitate handling and transport of a number of sales units or grouped packagings in order to prevent physical handling and transport damage; for the purposes of these Regulations transport packaging does not include road, rail, ship and air containers.”


To handle packaging means to carry out one or more of the following activities;

• Supply packaging raw materials that you have manufactured e.g manufacture of plastic pellets to be used by others for packaging manufacture.
• Supply packaging that you have converted from raw materials e.g. supply of empty plastic bottles that you have manufactured
• Supply packed/filled products to retailers e.g supply of filled lemonade bottles to wholesalers.
• Supply pack/filled products to end users/consumers e.g. sale of lemonade bottle to end user/consumer
• Import packaging or packaging materials

If your business meets both the turnover and ‘packaging handled’ thresholds then you must

• Register with the relevant Agency (SEPA if your registered office or principal place of business is in Scotland).  Registration with SEPA includes the provision of data relating to the packaging handled by your company. (click here)
• Meet certain recovery and recycling obligations.(click here)
• Certify that your obligations have been met.

In addition, if your principal business activity is that of ‘seller’ of packed products then you must also comply with consumer information obligations.

If you do not wish to meet obligations independently then you may join a registered Compliance Scheme that will meet obligations on your behalf.

Full details of how the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 2007 are administered and monitored by SEPA can be found in our monitoring strategy.