There are two pieces of legislation that relate specifically to packaging. They have been designed to ensure that businesses take responsible for recovering and recycling UK packaging waste. These regulations apply to any business that makes, fills, sells or handles packaging or packaging materials.

Packaging (Essential Requirements) Regulations

The Packaging (Essential Requirements) Regulations 2003 and subsequent amendments (in 2004, 2006 and 2009) set out rules for businesses that produce, sell or distribute packaging. They set out rules on the composition, volume and weight of packaging and its design to maximise recovery and re-use (including recycling).

Your business must comply with the Essential Requirements Regulations if you:

• produce packaged products
• design or specify packaging
• import packaged goods or filled packaging into the UK
• sell packaged goods or filled packaging
• place packaging or packaged goods on the market

The regulations apply regardless of your business' turnover and the quantities of packaging produced, handled or filled. There are only four possibilities for exemption:

• packaging manufactured on or before 31 December 1994
• packaging placed on the market on or before 31 December 1999
• packaging made entirely from lead crystal.
• the limit of 100 parts per million (ppm) of regulated heavy metals in plastic pallets, plastic crates and glass packaging may be exceeded, but only if other criteria are met.

Detailed guidance on the Essential Requirements Regulations is provided by the Department for Business Industry & Skills .

Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations

The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 2007 and 2008 require producers to recover and recycle packaging waste to achieve the following targets:

Overall recovery targets

For 2008: 72%, 2009: 73%, for 2010: 74%

% recycling targets by material

Material	2008	2009	2010
Glass	78	80	81
Aluminium	35	38	40
Steel	68	68.5	69
Paper/Board	67.5	68.5	69.5
Plastic	26	27	29
Wood	20.5	21	22

The obligations are apportioned between producers of packaging material (6%), converters of the material into packaging (9%), those who pack/fill the packaging with their goods (37%) and those who sell the packaged goods (48%).

Your business must comply with the Producer Responsibility Obligations if you:

handle more than 50 tonnes of packaging in a year
and
have a turnover of more than £2 million (based on the previous financial year).

The obligations apply to the total amount of packaging that your business handles, not the amount of packaging waste that your business produces.

If your business belongs to a group of companies these requirements apply to the total amount of packaging handled by the group and the group's total annual turnover.

If your business provides licences to other businesses, such as franchises or pub leases, then you may be responsible for their packaging obligations. You will need to include them when you calculate the size of your business.

If the Producer Responsibility Obligations apply to your business you must:

• register with the Environment Agency, either directly or through a producer compliance scheme
• pay for the recovery and recycling of an amount of packaging waste, calculated on the basis of the total handled, the percentage apportioned to your role (producer/converter/packer/seller) and the year's recovery/recycling targets.
• provide evidence to your environmental regulator of your obligation and payment, in the form of electronic packaging recovery notes (ePRNs) and packaging export recovery notes (ePERNs).

ePRNs (ePERNs) are issued electronically by accredited reprocessors (or exporters) who accept packaging waste and issue a note stating how much packaging waste they have recovered or recycled (or exported).

In addition, businesses whose main packaging activity is selling packaging or packaged goods must provide information to their customers about:

• reusing, recovering and recycling packaging
• the collection facilities available to them.

Detailed guidance on the Producer Responsibility Obligations Regulations is provided by Defra .

Businesses not covered by either of these regulations still have a Duty of Care to store and dispose of packaging waste responsibly, and can benefit financially by minimising packaging waste.

Further information

Envirowise

This government agency provides two guides on reducing packaging

Packguide: A guide to Packaging Eco-Design

Unpack Those Hidden Savings: 120 Tips on Reducing Packaging Use and Costs

INCPEN - The Industry Council for Packaging and the Environment

INCPEN is a research organisation, which draws together an influential group of companies whose aim is to:

• ensure that policy on packaging makes a positive contribution to sustainability
• encourage industry to minimise the environmental impact of packaging and packaged goods and continuously improve packaging
• explain the role of packaging in society

British Standards Institute

Publishes several standards for packaging

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