Packaging and Packaging Waste

The EC Packaging & Packaging Waste Directive aims to set essential requirements for all packaging placed in the EU market to limit usage of heavy metal in packaging, minimise the packaging waste and encourage recovery, re-use and recycling of packaging. The directive also standardises product packaging in the Member State, thus remove trading obstacles in the EU.

In the UK, the directive was tranposed through two sets of Regulations i.e.:-

  1. The Packaging (Essential Requirements) Regulations 2003 (as amended), managed by BERR and enforced by the Trading Standards Office (TSO)
  2. The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 2007, managed by Defra

The Packaging (Essential Requirements) Regulations

The Packaging (Essential Requirements) Regulations apply to business that design, specify or manufacture packaging, pack or fill packaging, import packed goods or packaging.

Key features in the Packaging (Essential Requirements) Regulations are:-

  1. Packaging volume and weight shall be limited to the minimum adequate mount to maintain the necessary level of safety, hygiene and acceptance for the packed product and for the consumer.
  2. Packaging shall be designed, produced and commercialised in such a way as to permit its recovery through either material recycling, energy recovery or composting.
  3. Packaging declared as reusable must fulfil health and safety requirements under predicted condition of use.
  4. Noxious and other hazardous substances shall be minimised with regard to their presence in emissions, ash or leachate when packaging waste are incinerated or landfilled.
  5. Heavy metal limits i.e. the sum of concentration levels of cadmium, mercury, lead and hexavalent chromium must not exceed 100 ppm by weight on or after 30 June 2001.

The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations

The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations apply to business that handle (i.e. manufacture/ convert packanging, pack products with packaging, sell/import packed goods) more than 50 tonnes of packaging or packaging materials per year and the annual turnover is more than £2 million per year.

Key features in the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations are:-

  1. Place obligations on obliged businesses to recover and recycle specified tonnages of packaging waste each year and to certify that this recovery and recycling has been achieved.
  2. Require businesses to provide information about packaging recycling to consumers.

Obliged businesses can comply with the regulations by:-

  1. Individually register with the Environment Agency in England and Wales, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) in Scotland, or the Environment and Heritage Service (EHS) in Northern Ireland and calculate their own targets and provide evidence of meeting them.
  2. Join a paid compliance scheme where the scheme will register and meet the obligations on their behalf.

Legislative Documents

EC Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive 94/62/EC

The Packaging (Essential Requirements) Regulations 2003

The Packaging (Essential Requirements) (Amendment) Regulations 2006

The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 2007

The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) (Amendment) Regulations 2008

Government Guidance Notes

The Government Guidance Notes on the Packaging (Essential Requirements) Regulations

The Government Guidance Notes on the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 2005

Defra publication on direction for packaging policy for the next ten years:-

Making the most of packaging, A strategy for a low-carbon economy