LARAC responds to UK wide delay for Extended Producer Responsibility and Consistency of Collections for England.
LARAC is disappointed and concerned at the recent announcements from the government on the delay of two crucial policies arising from the Collection and Packaging Reforms; Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), a UK-wide policy that impacts all four nations, and the outcome of the consultation on Consistency in Household and Business Recycling Collections in England.
LARAC has been expecting news of this kind after weeks of rumours and media reports of producer-led pressure on the government to delay, despite LARAC’s best efforts to gain clarity on the progress of both EPR, consistency and expected timelines for its members.
LARAC has been very clear about the importance of simultaneously introducing EPR and the consistency reforms and has worked tirelessly to advocate for the levers and legislative framework needed so that councils can hit the ground running and really start to drive up their recycling rates. Rates which have stagnated now for near on a decade for much of the UK..
Cathy Cook, Chair of LARAC, said: “LARAC and its members are extremely disappointed and frustrated by the announcement that the funding due to Local Authorities through EPR will be further delayed, consequently meaning they will have to continue to foot the bill for the management of packaging waste, whilst the producers of said packaging have once again been provided a “stay of execution” by the government. Local Authorities are under more and more pressure to fund services within a very challenging environment, and DEFRA does not appear to appreciate the severity of the situation. Funding through the Extended Producer Responsibility scheme is not only vital to ensure quality waste management service provision, but it is funding that Local Authorities have a right to receive, ensuring that those producers responsible for putting packaging on the market support the management of it via the ‘polluter pays’ principle. Four and a half years after the release of the Resources and Waste Strategy, there is still nothing concrete from the government for Local Authorities to work towards. With continued delays in the major reforms, Local Authorities have been unable to plan accordingly for these changes, which will significantly impact their time and resources, something which doesn’t seem to be fully appreciated by DEFRA”.
Following the original announcement that EPR would be delayed by a year for the whole of the UK, DEFRA released a press statement last night, ending with the following information on consistent collections for England: “Consistent household recycling collections will come in after the extended producer responsibility scheme is implemented. More details on this will be set out in due course.”
LARAC are still none the wiser about what this means for consistent collections and its time scale for implementation. We await further clarification on the response to consistent collections for England, alongside the timeline for food waste collections and the new burdens funding for councils to implement those collections, the statutory guidance consultation, and new timelines for all the above. We expect to be updated by DEFRA at their earliest convenience.
Local Authorities are ready; they have provided excellent recycling and waste services for many years, and they are well-placed to adapt to any changes required by the reforms and have welcomed the commitment to EPR. The cost-of-living crisis is being used as the justification for delaying EPR, ironic when the public will be the ones who pay for the services provided by Local Authorities in the interim. This delay will inevitably lead to confidence losses in investment for the required infrastructure to improve the quantity and quality of recycled packaging in the UK.
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