§ Malcolm BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on what date her Department was first informed of an(a) potential and (b) actual problem with Wastepack meeting its obligations for 2001 under the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997; and if she will make a statement. [54791]
§ Mr. MeacherThe Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) announced on 15 April 2002 that, having completed its compliance assessment, it concluded that Wastepack compliance scheme had failed to take824W reasonable steps to carry out its recovery and recycling obligations under the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997 (as amended). During my Department's review of progress on recovery and recycling in 2001 it sought confirmation from the major compliance schemes in November 2001 that they were on course to meet their obligations under the Regulations.. We first became aware of a problem when the third quarter returns from accredited reprocessors suggested that there remained a significant amount of recovery to be achieved by the scheme in the final quarter.