§ Mr. DjanoglyTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will exempt re-usable wood packaging from the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997. [25342]
§ Mr. Meacher[holding answer 9 January 2002]: There are no grounds within the Directive or the UK Regulations for exempting any types or items of packaging from their scope.
§ Mr. DjanoglyTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the cost of compliance to the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997 by the United Kingdom wood packaging industry in terms of the percentage of the industry's average profits in the last year. [25343]
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§ Mr. Meacher[holding answer 9 January 2002]: The recovery of wood packaging waste has only been required by the Regulations since 1 January 2000. No assessment has been made of the cost of compliance with the Regulations to the wood packaging industry.
§ Mr. DjanoglyTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the impact of the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997 on the re-use of products in the United Kingdom wood packaging industry. [25344]
§ Mr. Meacher[holding answer 9 January 2002]: The Government have made no assessment of the impact of the regulations on the re-use of products in the UK wood packaging industry.
§ Mr. DjanoglyTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the number of companies evading the producer responsibility obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997; and what plans the Environment Agency has to prevent this. [25345]
§ Mr. Meacher[holding answer 9 January 2002]: The Regulations place a monitoring duty on the Environment Agency. The agency continues to trace businesses which should be subject to the packaging regulations and they have the powers to monitor businesses which they believe should be subject to the regulations. It is impossible to estimate the number of businesses that might still be evading their producer responsibility obligations. However, comparison of the data derived from obligated businesses with estimates derived from materials organisations and making allowance for businesses outside the scope of the regulations because they do not satisfy turnover and packaging tonnage threshold limits, the amount of packaging not accounted for is probably less than 2 per cent. of the total. The Environment Agency's compliance plan for 2001–02 has provision to check on more than 2,000 businesses and the agency is on schedule to fulfil that commitment. The number of registrations under the regulations (which includes individual businesses and groups of companies) has continued to rise, from 5,451 at the end of 2000 to 5,629 now.
Agency enforcement is steadily improving. There were 38 prosecutions in 2001 (a total of 72 since the start of the agency's enforcement programme in 1998). Fines are on average higher, with fines totalling £152,350 (average £4,000) in 2001, compared to only £63,878 (average £2,060) in 2000 in 31 cases. The highest fine last year reached £25,000. As fines increase, so does their deterrent effect.