The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Amendment (Scotland) Regulations 2020

These Regulations were made on 18th November 2020 and will come into force on 1st January 2021, and although they only apply to Scotland, it’s best to understand how they may affect your organisation if they are applied in your region.  The changes relate to sections of the Environment Act 1995 and amend recovery and recycling obligations.

The 2007 Regulations stated that the producer was responsible for recovering and recycling a proportion of the packaging they produced, if that was more than 50 tonnes of packaging with a turnover of more than £2 million if;

  • The business manufactured raw materials for packaging
  • Converting materials into packaging
  • Filling packaging
  • Selling packaging to an end user
  • Leasing out packaging
  • Importing packaging or its materials into the UK

A target was set to meet the Government’s recycling targets. This is due to change at the end of 2020, with new targets for Scotland being set for 2021 and 2022. These increase recycling rates from 92% to 100%, replacing the current 8% recovery targets.   There are now no recovery targets because it is expected that all packaging will now be recycled.

For further help with how this amendment might affect your organisation, or assistance with managing your environmental impacts, contact us.

Kathy Clements
Kathy Clements
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