Source · Select Committees · Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Recommendation 22
22
Rejected
The Government need to publish clear, evidence-based criteria for how Extended Producer Responsibility fees and...
Recommendation
The Government need to publish clear, evidence-based criteria for how Extended Producer Responsibility fees and the Plastic Packaging Tax will apply to new technologies, including compostable plastics and chemical recycling. We recommend the hypothecation of income raised from fees on compostable plastics and chemical recycling to research the most promising versions of these technologies or the development of appropriate recycling infrastructure. (Paragraph 100) The price of plastic: ending the toll of plastic waste 61
Government Response Summary
The government will obligate producers to collate and report their packaging data for 2023. However, the government disagrees with the Committee’s recommendation to hypothecate fees towards research, stating producer fees will pay for packaging waste collection and management.
Government Response
Rejected
HM Government
Rejected
The government has laid the first regulation required to obligate producers to collate and report their packaging data for 2023. This will allow the pEPR Scheme Administrator to calculate producer fees and payments to local authorities in financial year 2024/2025. There will be a requirement in regulations for the pEPR Scheme Administrator to prepare and issue a statement of its policy with respect to varying (modulating) the fees to be charged to producers and to seek the views of businesses on its proposals. The government disagrees with the Committee’s recommendation to hypothecate fees towards research. Producer fees will pay for the collection and management of packaging waste produced by households and disposed of in street bins provided by local authorities. Indeed, the provisions in the Environment Act 2021 provide for regulations to be made requiring those involved in manufacturing, processing distributing or supplying products or materials to meet, or to contribute to, the disposal costs of these products or materials, meaning that the costs paid by producers cannot be hypothecated to fund research. pEPR is in most part a cost transfer. It will transfer the costs of dealing with packaging waste generated by households from taxpayers to the packaging producers, applying the ‘polluter-pays principle’. It will also support the costs of introducing new and improved services for the collection and management of packaging waste such as the collection of recyclable plastic films and flexible packaging for recycling.