Source · Select Committees · Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Recommendation 7
7
Rejected
Paragraph: 39
We agree that it is best to continue the Packaging Waste Recovery Note (PRN) system...
Conclusion
We agree that it is best to continue the Packaging Waste Recovery Note (PRN) system in the short term to ensure some continued funding for the reprocessing sector. Government should ensure that any temporary dual-running system, and the added complexity it brings, does not become permanent. We welcome the previous Government’s proposal for a taskforce to help navigate the way to a full EPR system in the future but we are concerned about the lack of a clear timetable for this change.
Government Response Summary
The government disagrees with publishing an exit strategy for dual running of EPR and the PRN system one year after EPR implementation, stating they want to ensure the right measures are in place at the right time and avoid complicating pEPR's delivery.
Paragraph Reference:
39
Government Response
Rejected
HM Government
Rejected
The government welcomes the Committee’s support for the retention of the PRN system as an interim solution for ensuring that producers have a means to evidence that their recycling obligations have been met and ensuring that they contribute to the cost of reprocessing packaging waste from both households and businesses. However, the government disagrees with the Committee’s recommendation to publish an exit strategy no more than a year after EPR is introduced. This is because we want to make sure we put the right measures in place at the right time. Bringing forward charges for packaging produced by businesses at this stage would complicate pEPR as a whole and risk its delivery. We want to focus on the steps to address household packaging waste first, ensuring producers are covering these costs and local authorities are receiving payments for their services. We are confident that this approach will provide powerful incentives to producers to reduce their packaging use and increase the use of easy to recycle packaging.