DEFRA have recently revealed that they are looking at potentially revising the current de-minimis threshold for packaging producers, to reduce some of the burden on industry as part of the Red Tape Challenge.
Currently the Packaging Regulations apply to all businesses with a turnover of above £2million and who handle more than 50 tonnes of packaging per year. It is suggested that as part of the Producer Responsibility Review, the £2million threshold may be increased, which would remove the requirement to register and report data for a number of smaller companies.
At the Advisory Committee on Packaging Open Conference in April this year, the key priorities for regulatory change were identified as reducing the administrative burden of the yearly processes, as well as taking more small businesses out of the thresholds all together. Ongoing work was highlighted as improving coherence and reducing volatility in the PRN market.
Here at ecosurety, we welcome this chance to remove the burden of registration on the smaller producers. It is likely that there will be consultation over the summer and if this change is brought in, we would expect to see it come into effect for 2016. This is due to ongoing policy work and regulatory reviews, which would include consulting key stakeholder groups (which ecosurety are heavily involved in and contribute to on behalf of our members) along with parliamentary review and implementation.
To find out more about the packaging regulations and how they may apply to your business, why not call one of our technical specialists, or send us an email.
James Piper
Non-executive director
James Piper is a non-executive director of Ecosurety, having previously taken on the role of CEO for nearly five years when he was now focused on leading the development of new products and services that not only benefited producers, but helped to drive change for good and a positive impact on UK recycling.
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