Packaging Waste Legislation

Producer Responsibility legislation for
Packaging Waste divides the obligation to achieve
targets between raw material suppliers, packaging converters (who make packaging), packer/fillers (who use packaging to protect their products) and sellers or retailers of packaged goods.

Producers fulfil their obligation by investing in recycling through the purchase of Packaging Recovery Notes (PRNs) and their export equivalent (PERNs) issued by accredited reprocessor companies: one PRN for every tonne of a given material which has been recycled. Producer companies may either make this investment themselves by dealing direct with reprocessor companies, or join compliance schemes such as Valpak who make the investment on their behalf.

Reprocessor companies then use the funds raised through selling PRNs to invest in growing recycling performance.

Business targets are set by the UK Government to meet EC legislation: the obligation of producer companies is calculated based on the tonnage of packaging handled, the company’s place in the packaging supply chain, and the target in a given year.

Accredited Reprocessors

Under the packaging waste regulations which require the UK to recycle specific amounts of packaging, accredited reprocessors have an important part to play. There are the businesses which can issue packaging waste recovery notes (PRNs) which are the evidence needed to prove that recycling and recovery has been carried out. To be an accredited reprocessor a business has to obtain approval from the Environment Agency and the list of accredited reprocessors is updated by the agency on a continual basis.