EXCLUSIVE: The Environment Agency has written to the packaging sector to “communicate its position” that in situations when PRNs issued are found to be ‘incorrect’, warning it will be able to cancel them from July 2021.
Early indications from compliance schemes suggest that while the sentiment behind the letter is welcome, the cancellation of PRNs will “penalise schemes and producers, and increase the cost of compliance to producers for something that the regulator allowed to happen”.
The Agency confirmed in 2020 it was looking at its regulatory position with regard to cancelling PRNs
PRNs – packaging waste recovery notes – are issued by reprocessors per tonne for packaging waste recycled and can have a high value. For example, last year the value of a plastic PRN was as high as £350 or more. PERNs are the equivalent for exporters and have a similar value.
Letter
In the letter to the sector on Friday (23 April), seen by letsrecycle.com, the EA said that when considering sanctions in response to incorrect PRNs/PERNs being issued, it’s first port of call would be to request that the reprocessor/exporter corrects their data via a waste adjustment.
“From 1 July 2021, we reserve the right to remove incorrect PRNs/PERNs from the regime ourselves”
Or, the EA says the reprocessor/exporter agrees can agree that the producer or scheme would remove the incorrect PRNs/PERNs from the National Packaging Waste Database, where data on compliance is logged.
The Agency however warned that in “exceptional circumstances” such as an operator being uncooperative, it will escalate its enforcement response to remove accreditation and/or prosecution.
It added that from 1 July 2021, “we reserve the right to remove (cancel) incorrect PRNs/PERNs from the regime ourselves”.
The latest date the Agency would seek to cancel incorrect PRNs/PERNs would be 31 January in the year following the relevant compliance period, mirroring the regulatory deadline for schemes/producers to obtain PRNs to meet their obligation.
The July 2021 date of being able to remove PRNs comes after the Agency warned in December 2020 that it was “reviewing its regulatory role” in relation to cancelling incorrectly issues PRNs (see letsrecycle.com story).
Legality
One compliance specialist told letsrecycle.com that if the EA were to cancel a PRN because the recycler “did not make good”, they thought this would not be legal as it doesn’t have explicit authority to cancel PRNs issued illegally under the packaging regulations.
“They only have authority to cancel or suspend the accreditation (to prevent further illegal PRNs from being issued),” the specialist added.
Another remarked that they hope the Agency reaches out to compliance schemes to work with them to find ways to prevent incorrectly issued PRNs from being counted towards data, adding that this is an issue compliance schemes “have been raising for years”.
Quality assurance
To ensure validity of PRNs/ PERNs issued, the Agency warned that reprocessors and exporters should have “robust quality assurance procedures in place”.
“We encourage schemes and producers to implement and follow their own due diligence and quality assurance procedures to ensure PRNs/PERNs accepted are correct and accurate. All parties are expected to retain records for inspection demonstrating the validity of the PRNs/PERNs they issue/accept,” the letter adds.
Export market
Much of the discussion within the packaging waste sector around potential illegal activities has centred on the export market in particular.
It is illegal to issue PRNs based on silage wrap recycling from farms (picture: Shutterstock)
Some in the sector consider that excess export PRNs are being issued and that there may even have been cases of material moved around to different destinations and PRNs issued twice. A long-standing argument has also been that where material is exported to countries with lower regulatory standards, more contamination can be passed off as recycling and the full value of a PRN issued.
In November 2020, Malcolm Lythgo, head of waste regulation at the Environment Agency expressed concerns about plastics from the agricultural sectors (see letsrecycle.com story).
The Agency warned in November that in 2020 it had intercepted “numerous illegal shipments of contaminated agricultural plastic waste, including silage wrap, which were destined for countries around the world” and was targeting those illegally claiming PRNs on the film exports.
Examples
The letter listed examples of activities which would make a PRN illegal. These are:
- Evidence issued on non-packaging material
- Evidence issued on non UK packaging
- Evidence issued under the wrong material type or for the wrong amount
- Evidence issued in respect of packaging received or exported before the reprocessor or exporter was accredited
- Evidence issued on material exported to non-approved overseas reprocessors
- Evidence issued on material exported in breach of Transfrontier Shipments of Waste requirements
- Evidence issued on material that cannot be demonstrated to have been recycled
- Evidence issued fraudulently
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Source: letsrecycle.com Packaging
