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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of extending the exemption from producer fees under the Extended Producer Responsibility scheme to social enterprises whose business models reduce negative environmental impacts; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of such an extension.

Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging makes producers responsible for costs of managing household packaging when it becomes waste. Obligations are therefore determined by turnover and packaging tonnage, rather than an organisation’s business model or use of profits.

Registered charities are exempt from disposal fees. The Government has no plans to extend this exemption to social enterprises. Businesses with turnover below £2 million and placing less than 50 tonnes of packaging on the market are exempt from disposal fee and recycling obligations.

Defra continues to engage with social enterprises, and their feedback informs its review of the impacts of the scheme.