Waste consultations – implications for food & drink and other manufacturing businesses

18th February 2019

The future of businesses in food and drink manufacturing and its supply chain will be affected by consultations launched by Government on 18 February. The consultations, which are aimed primarily at packaging waste, close on 13 May 2019.

The consultation on reforming the UK packaging producer responsibility system considers a range of options to replace the current packaging waste recovery notes system for packaging (the PRN system). It is driven by the EU Circular Economy Package which requires producers to pay the full net cost of collection, recycling and disposal of household and similar packaging waste.

The deposit return scheme (DRS) consultation considers two options for the implementation of a system that would see consumers paying a deposit on the purchase of certain drink containers that would be reimbursed by retailers on the return of the container.

The recycled content tax consultation considers the implementation of the 30% recycled content in single use plastic which was announced in the October budget and is due to start in 2022. There are a number of complex issues such as the definition of single use plastics.

Businesses in the supply chain for food and drink and other manufacturing industries need to understand the implications of the range of issues covered by these consultations and the how policy and regulation on waste and sustainability will shape their future.