§ Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domerasked Her Majesty's Government:
What were the figures reached in 2001 of:
that businesses must recover and recycle; and [HL3473]
- (a) material specific packaging waste; and
- (b) general packaging waste
What percentage of businesses in the United Kingdom are required to comply with efforts to reduce packaging waste. [HL3474]
§ Lord WhittyThe recovery and recycling targets in Article 6(1) of the EC Directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste, 94/62/EC, are implemented in Great Britain by the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997 (as amended).
In order to comply with the requirements in the directive, recovery and recycling targets for 2001 under the packaging regulations were 56 per cent for recovery and 18 per cent for material-specific recycling of packaging waste. Final outturn figures for 2001 are not yet available but data received to date suggest that, if all obligated parties met their 2001 obligations, these targets should be met. This would mean that the UK had recovered 4.6 million tonnes of packaging waste in 2001 ie. 50 per cent. We would expect to recycle some 45 per cent. We also anticipate that all materials will meet the 15 per cent material-specific target in the directive, with the possible exception of plastics.
Only businesses handling more than 50 tonnes of packaging and with financial turnover of more than £2 million in their most recently audited accounts are obligated under the regulations if they perform one or more of the following activities: manufacturing raw materials for packaging; converting materials into packaging; filling packaging; selling packaging to the final user; or importing packaging or packaging materials into the UK. Figures received so far for 2001 indicate that there were some 6,000 registrations under the packaging regulations, which, because one registration can cover more than one business (eg where there is a group registration), means that between 10,000 and 14,000 businesses were registered.