The British Plastics Federation Recycling Group (BPFRG) has welcomed the news that the National Audit Office (NAO) to assess the packaging recovery note (PRN) scheme’s performance.
In response to the recent report from Eunomia ‘Plastic Packaging Shredding Light on the UK data’, chairman of the British Plastics Federation Recycling Group, Roger Baynham, said the BPFRG supports the idea of an independent body being able to review the current data and develop clear proposals to tackle any identified errors. This would help ensure the system was transparent.
The report by environmental consultancy Eunomia claimed the UK “consistently overestimates” how much of the plastic packaging waste it produces actually gets recycled.
“In particular, we have highlighted the fact that the current system encourages waste to be exported, as any contaminated material is still counted within recycling figures, whereas if recycled domestically, contaminated material must be removed prior to reporting.”
The BPFRG said it is also pleased to hear the announcement that the Environment Audit Committee (EAC) has asked the National Audit Office (NAO) to assess the PRN scheme’s performance against its objectives and to consider whether there is a sufficiently robust approach to preventing fraud and non-compliance.
“For a number of years, the BPFRG has raised concerns about the PRN system and called for reform,” said Mr Baynham.
“In particular, we have highlighted the fact that the current system encourages waste to be exported, as any contaminated material is still counted within recycling figures, whereas if recycled domestically, contaminated material must be removed prior to reporting.
“We welcome Eunomia’s suggestion that what qualifies as ‘recycled material’ should reconcile with the output from the final recycling process.”
The BPF recently launched a platform allowing the industry to anonymously report waste crime to the Environment Agency Intelligence Team.