Asked by: Nigel Mills (Conservative - Amber Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 6 February to Question 135355 on Packaging Recycling, which specific international schemes her Department considered in developing their EPR proposal for the UK; and how those schemes are reflected in current EPR policy.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As part of the development of our proposals for introducing EPR in the UK, we looked at many of the EPR schemes operating across the EU, with a particular focus on the systems in Belgium, France and Germany. This experience was reflected in many of the proposals put forward in our 2021 consultation and 2022 Government response, including scheme governance, the payment mechanism for local authorities, producer contributions to costs of public communications campaigns on recycling, and our decision to move to a single point of producer compliance.
Asked by: Nigel Mills (Conservative - Amber Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 6 February 2022 to Question 135354 on Packaging Recycling, what changes were made by the Cabinet to her Department’s initial proposals for EPR in the consultation while the publication of the Government’s response was subject to Cabinet approval.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government response to the 2021 consultation on the introduction of EPR was approved by the Domestic and Economic Implementation Committee. While the publication of the response was conditional upon several requirements being met, there were no substantive changes to our proposals requested at this stage.
Asked by: Nigel Mills (Conservative - Amber Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with her cabinet colleagues in relation to concerns expressed by representatives of affected industries on (a) the potential impact on those industries of Extended Producer Responsibility (ERP) for packaging, (b) the additional costs of ERP for those industries and (c) how best to implement a transition to international best practice on EPR. including the appropriate timeframe.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I have not engaged directly in cabinet discussions in relation to Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging, however the Government Response to the consultation on packaging EPR was subject to Cabinet write round approval prior to publication in March 2022 and my officials continue to engage with officials in other government departments on policy implementation. Alongside the Government Response we published an Impact Assessment setting out the costs and benefits of the policy. We have published new guidance on ‘How to collect your packaging data for EPR’ for all UK organisations that will be affected by EPR for packaging and have also conducted several webinars to provide information to producers. The guidance will continue to be updated and we continue to work closely with industry to ensure they will be ready for EPR.
Asked by: Nigel Mills (Conservative - Amber Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, (a) what conclusions she has drawn from recent engagement with representatives of affected industries on the implementation of international best-practice Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging and (b) which specific best practice principles she plans to implement when EPR is introduced in January 2024.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have considered the approach of many international Extended Producer Responsibility schemes for packaging and drawn on this experience in developing our proposals for the UK. We will continue to engage with obligated businesses as we prepare for implementation and as we develop the next phases of EPR. In doing so we will continue to keep abreast of international best practice and learn from industries experience of schemes in other countries.