House of Lords written question – answered at on 15 May 2002.
asked Her Majesty's Government:
What the United Kingdom's performance was in 2001 against the recovery and recycling targets in the EC Directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste.
The UK narrowly failed to meet the overall packaging waste recovery target in 2001 but met the overall recycling target and the material-specific recycling targets for all materials.
The recovery and recycling of packaging waste carried out in 2001 is as shown below.
UK re-processing | Exported for Re-processing | Re-processing for which no PRN/PERN issued | PRN & PERN carried forward to 2002 | Tonnes accepted for Recovery & Recycling UK | |
Paper | 1,851,505 | 179,439 | 25,895 | 83,064 | 2,030,944 |
Glass | 696,578 | 39,016 | 17,036 | 29,273 | 735,594 |
Aluminium | 25,869 | 3,161 | 1 | 821 | 29,030 |
Steel | 141,343 | 136,736 | 3,051 | 8,365 | 278,079 |
Plastic | 203,149 | 66,813 | 6,077 | 10,506 | 269,962 |
Wood | 573,951 | 4,985 | 23,742 | 573,951 | |
Alt.evidence | 30,741 | 30,741 | |||
Total recycling | 3,523,136 | 425,165 | 57,045 | 155,771 | 3,948,301 |
Efw | 513,939 | 913 | 24,986 | 513,939 | |
Total | 4,037,075 | 425,165 | 57,958 | 180,757 | 4,462,240 |
Article 6(1) of the EC Directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste 94/62/EC set the following targets:
Between 50 per cent and 65 per cent recovery
Between 25 per cent and 45 per cent recycling
15 per cent recycling of each material.
The UK performance against the targets is shown below.
Material | Target | Performance |
Paper | 15% | 53% |
Glass | 15% | 33% |
Aluminimum | 15% | 24% 'metals' 35% |
Steel | 15% | 37% 'metals' 35% |
Plastic | 15% | 16% |
Wood | 15% | 57% |
Total Recovery | 50%–65% | 47.9% |
Total Recycling | 25%–45% | 42% |
The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997 (as amended) and parallel legislation in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland implement these targets in the UK. The regulations place recovery and recycling obligations on producers to enable the UK to attain the directive recovery and recycling targets. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the Environment Agency have reported that one compliance scheme and a number of individually registered businesses failed to meet their tonnage recovery obligations under the packaging regulations—a total shortfall of 263,832 tonnes against a combined total obligation of 823,003 tonnes.
Yes1 person thinks so
No0 people think not
Would you like to ask a question like this yourself? Use our Freedom of Information site.