The Recycling Association

Heritage House, Vicar Lane, Daventry, NN11 4GD

Tel: +44 (0) 1327 703223 Fax: +44 (0) 1327 300612

Email: simon.ellin@therecyclingassociation.com

Website:www.therecyclingassociation.com

Press release

STATEMENT ON BUDGET 2020

The Recycling Association chief executive Simon Ellin said:

"The introduction of a Plastic Packaging Tax from April 2020 of £200 per tonne is a gamechanger. It is an amount that will stimulate the use of the 30% recycled content in plastic packaging the Government wants to achieve and lead to the development of more plastic recycling infrastructure in the UK.

"However, the devil will be in the detail, particularly around the scope of what is included in the tax.

"While I welcome the Plastic Packaging Tax, I wonder if there should be a similar tax introduced on other materials such as paper and cardboard that do not include 30% recycled content. This would help to stimulate markets for other materials too.

"I was also pleased to see in the consultation document on the Plastic Packaging Tax that the Government remains keen to reform the producer responsibility system to ensure that multi-material packaging is discouraged and incentivise instead those packaging materials that are easy to recycle."

For more information, contact: The Recycling Association chief executive Simon Ellin on 07970 549 536 or Paul Sanderson at Hanicke Robins Sanderson on 0774 778 5980