The committee, chaired by Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe, concluded that the UK packaging industry will be able to meet the EC's targets for 2006, although the annual cost will be between four and five times the annual cost in 2001, between 281 million and 343 million.
However, the report cast major doubt on the ability of the UK to meet higher targets as proposed by Dutch MEP Dorette Corbey (see letsrecycle.com story), stating that such proposal would mean the annual cost would be between 878 million and 948 million more than meeting the present targets.
PRN system
After hearing evidence from around the industry, including government, regulators, trade bodies and waste management firms, the energy, industry and transport committee said that the packaging waste system of PRNs should not under go “radical change”.
However, the committee did call on the government to simplify the system with clearer rules on compliance, better co-ordination between the packaging industry, local authorities and regulatory agencies and the setting up of a single authority to oversee how the industry is to meet future European targets.
The report said: “We ask the Government to consider how, through simplifying the administration of the system, especially for small and medium sized enterprises, the obligation could be extended to include all companies placing packaging on the market.”
Transparency
The committee also called on the government to deal with the uncertainty surrounding the UK's performance statistics, with particular reference to the lack of transparency in the system and the delays in the release of information about tonnages and costs.
“The Committee recommends that data should be required to be submitted on a quarterly basis and that the regulatory agencies should issues quarterly statements of account,” it said.
The full report is available here
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