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23.
July
2018.
Be prepared for greater packaging recycling obligation costs says Prismm

 

PRESS RELEASE

 

July 2018

For immediate release

 

 

Be prepared for greater packaging recycling obligation costs says Prismm Environmental

Prismm Environmental has warned that the cost of being obligated for packaging recycling is set to rise.

Currently, approximately 10% of the cost of recycling is covered by the Packaging Recovery Note (PRN) system, but this is expected to rise over the coming weeks and months.

With the Government expected to publish the Resources & Waste Strategy later this year, the cost to producers of packaging is expected to rise massively.

Prismm Environmental managing director Mike Jackson said: "Anybody who is required to be obligated needs to be prepared for large increases in the cost of this.

"It is now widely expected that the Resources & Waste Strategy from Defra will propose that costs of recycling covered by producers should increase from around about 10% now to at least 80% and possibly more. We don't know as yet when this will happen, but it could happen very soon.

"However, we are already seeing the price of PRNs rise due to it being harder to find export markets now that countries such as China are no longer taking some materials for recycling. For example, a paper PRN has risen above £10 per tonne from less than £1 per tonne a few weeks ago. With the new Resources & Waste Strategy expected to be published in the autumn, the cost of obligation looks set to go even higher.

"The National Audit Office has also issued its report The Packaging Recycling Obligations that said ‘there is no evidence that the [PRN] system has encouraged companies to minimise the use of packaging or make it easy to recycle'. This will put even more pressure on Defra to ensure that the Resources & Waste Strategy incentivises those that produce packaging to make it easier to recycle. This is likely to be done through higher obligation costs for those harder-to-recycle materials."

Prismm Environmental is a specialist in recycling packaging and printing materials, and it also runs the ComplyPak packaging compliance scheme.

 

 

ENDS

For more information, contact: Paul Sanderson at Hanicke Robins Sanderson on 0774 778 5980 or emailpaul.sanderson@harosa.comor Alex Bean on 0779 669 7550 or emailalex.bean@harosa.com