Emailed by Defra Friday 21st April
Extended Producer Responsibility
Publication of the Packaging Waste (Data Reporting) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2023
The Packaging Waste (Data Reporting) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 were published today, 21 April 2023 – see Packaging Waste (Data Reporting) regulations. These Regulations will amend the Packaging Waste (Data Reporting) (England) Regulations 2023, which came into force on 28 February 2023.
Since the Data Reporting Regulations were laid in February, further engagement with producers has identified a small number of necessary amendments. These will ensure producers submit all the information required for calculating their 2024 obligations, remove some loopholes in the Data Reporting Regulations, and ensure the reporting requirements are fully aligned with the digital system that producers will use to report their data. These amendments will also make some minor changes to the way in which producers report their data and ensure that they are reporting data on all relevant packaging which is not currently included in the Data Reporting Regulations. This includes packaging which is imported into the UK and subsequently discarded by the importer and relates to an estimated one million tonnes of packaging, and so represents a significant gap in the reported data.
As collection of this data is already required under the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 2007, this change will cause minimal inconvenience to producers. These amendments will also provide further clarification on the obligated producer in instances where packaging carries two or more brands, or for brands that sell products that include other brands (such as food hampers).
The amendments also provide further clarification on the data reporting requirements for reusable and refillable packaging and simplify this reporting for producers and allow producers that have instituted re-use systems to be able to offset the packaging at its end of life, where they have it reprocessed.
Key points
- The Data Reporting Regulations require producers to collect, retain and report information for the new Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system. This will be in respect of packaging they supply or discard during 2023 and will be used to calculate producers EPR obligations from 2024.
- The amendments included in these Regulations are minor but will ensure that producers submit all the information required for calculating their 2024 obligations, remove some loopholes in the Data Reporting Regulations, and ensure the reporting requirements are fully aligned with the digital system that producers will use to report their data. A fuller summary of the changes are set out in the Explanatory Memorandum which is available on the above link.
- As part of the transition between these new regulations and the old regulations, producers and Compliance Schemes will still need to continue to comply with their 2007 obligations.
- The 2023 Packaging Waste Data Reporting Regulations and the 2007 regulations will be revoked by the new Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulations.
- The Environment Agencies will keep producers informed about compliance requirements as part of the transition from the 2007 regulations to the 2023 regulations.
- These Regulations will come into force on 30th June 2023, extend to England only and will apply to data reported from the 1 January 2023. Devolved Administrations will also be amending their 2023 data reporting regulations to take account of these changes.
- The following documents have been published; UK Draft Statutory Instrument, UK Draft Explanatory Memorandum and the Impact Assessment.
For further information: please contact the SI Registrar on 0208 392 5361, quoting reference: 2023-04-19/1013
Kind regards
Business Readiness and Engagement Team
Collections and Packaging Reforms Delivery – Environment Quality
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs