Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of increasing the speed of reforms to the (a) packaging waste recycling note and (b) packaging waste export recycling note systems.

The Government Response to both the consultation on extended producer responsibility for packaging published in March 2022 and the consultation on reforms to the Packaging Waste Recycling Note (PRN) and Packaging Waste Export Recycling Note (PERN) System published in October 2022 set out a number of measures to improve the operation of the system. These included enhanced reporting requirements for accredited reprocessors and exporters, the introduction of an operator competence (‘fit and proper person’) test and additional requirements on exporters to evidence that packaging has been received at overseas reprocessing sites and recycled. These reforms will be introduced in our new Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulations, which currently are out for consultation. The Government will keep the operation of the system under review and consider other measures as necessary to ensure its effective operation.