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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions her Department has had with packaging manufacturers and distributors on the financial sustainability of Extended Producer Responsibility, and what steps she is taking to reflect the concerns of business in her policy.

The Government has engaged extensively with packaging manufacturers, distributors and representative bodies as part of the development of the Extended Producer Responsibility scheme. This engagement has included public consultations, technical working groups, bilateral meetings, and ongoing discussions through industry forums.

The Government has carefully considered the concerns raised by business. We are aware of industry concerns around producers being charged pEPR disposal fees for the management of packaging that is disposed of in commercial streams. At a roundtable with industry chaired by me on 10 June it was agreed to establish an industry led group to develop approaches to remove dual use packaging that is unlikely to end up in household waste stream from obligation. This work is now well advanced, and my department is carefully reviewing proposed approaches and will seek to balance sectoral ambitions against the operational integrity of the scheme.  We will continue to engage with industry during this process as we seek to establish a final approach.