Call for simplified UK packaging regulations
From Packaging News 11 January 2012
Britain’s manufacturers are urging the government to develop simplified packaging regulations to allow businesses to fully contribute to resource management.
The call is made by EEF [the manufacturer’s organisation] in its review of Defra’s waste policy strategy ‘six months on’.
It calls on government to target producer responsibility policies where they are needed and remove them where the outcome has been secured.
For example, the organisation said that producer responsibility regulations on packaging sit uncomfortably within the regulatory landscape.
The EEF added: “Its original aim was to drive the development of reprocessing infrastructure for packaging and secure high levels of recycling through the supply chain.
“Barriers to a closed loop in packaging materials are now widely considered to be consumer behaviour and a lack of collection infrastructure.”
‘Reduce regulatory burdens’
The organisation is urging the government to reduce the regulatory burden on manufacturers by adopting a material specific approach – targeting policies to secure recyclate markets where there are clear market failures.
It explained that for some materials the market is now sufficiently mature to warrant a review of government intervention, however there may be materials where the current system works well and where reprocessors still need the revenue to further develop markets.
As an alternative sector agreements of best practice could focus on sector-wide and time-constrained commitments to enable waste prevention and recycling, collection and reprocessing, EEF said.
‘More ambitious approach’
Elsewhere, as part of its review, the EEF is also urging government to develop a far more ambitious approach to the management of waste in the UK, as it survey evidence shows that the shortage of materials is now the biggest threat to UK manufacturers.
EEF claims the government should work with industry to develop a resource strategy that will enable materials, particularly those in scare supply, to be re-used and to speed up their movement across the economy. Such a strategy would make it easier for companies to make the most out of the waste they and others produce and reduce our dependence on imports, it says.
‘Top risk’
The call was backed by an EEF survey of senior manufacturing leaders showing 80% now regard a shortage of raw materials as a risk to their business. Of these, two thirds said it was their top risk. In addition, 1 in 6 companies said that a shortage of raw materials is now a brake on growth.
Commenting on the survey, EEF head of climate & environment Gareth Stace said: “Waste policy has for sometime been the forgotten element of the green agenda.
“But, with global demand for resources expected to soar in the future and manufacturers already rating raw material shortages as their biggest risk, we must not miss the opportunity to make the best of what we have.
“Government policy has gone some way towards recognising these risks but to date it has not gone far enough.
“We now need a more ambitious approach which involves a resource strategy for the UK, simplified legislation and an improved infrastructure involving better access to local authority recycling.”
