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Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive
Background
In 1999, 63.5 million tonnes of packaging waste was generated in the European Union (EU). This corresponds to around 17% of municipal solid waste and 3% of the total waste generation by weight. In 2003, the UK produced over 10 million tonnes of packaging waste.
The Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive required Member States by June 2001 to recycle between 25% and 45% of total packaging waste and recover between 50% and 65%. While the UK met the all the recycling targets it narrowly missed the overall minimum recovery target, although recycling and recovery rates now comfortably exceed the 2001 targets.
In 2003 the Directive was amended to set higher recycling and recovery targets. EU Member States are now required to recycle between 55% and 80% of packaging waste and recover a minimum of 60% by 31 December 2008. New material-specific recycling targets have been set including, for the first time, a target for wood packaging:
| Glass |
60% |
| Paper |
60% |
| Metal |
50% |
| Plastics |
22.5% |
| Wood |
15% |
UK legislation
The Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive was implemented in the UK as The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations, which came into force in 1997. The Regulations implemented a system of shared responsibility between the four stages of the packaging chain obligating them to recover and recycle the following proportions of packaging waste:
| Raw material manufacturing |
6% |
| Converting |
11% |
| Packing/filling |
36% |
| Selling (e.g. retailing) |
47% |
Packaging waste recycling and recovery 2003
| Material |
Recovery and recycling in 2003 |
| Paper |
2,428,593 |
| Glass |
861,948 |
| Aluminium |
31,831 |
| Steel |
304,520 |
| Plastic |
402,090 |
| Wood |
756,842 |
| Total recycling |
4,785,824 |
| EfW |
599,380 |
| Total recovery |
5,385,204 |
| Packaging in the waste stream |
10,059,371 |
| Recovery % |
53.53% |
| Recycling % |
47.57% |
UK recycling and recovery targets
In 2003, the Packaging Regulations were amended to introduce new national recycling and recovery targets for 2004-2008. The targets were set to enable the UK to meet the revised targets of the Directive. The new targets are detailed in the table below.
Packaging recovery and recycling business targets (%)
| |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
| Paper |
65 |
66 |
68 |
69 |
70 |
| Glass |
49 |
55 |
61 |
66 |
71 |
| Aluminium |
26 |
28 |
30.5 |
33 |
35.5 |
| Steel |
52.5 |
55 |
58 |
60 |
61.5 |
| Plastics |
21.5 |
22 |
22.5 |
23 |
23.5 |
| Wood |
18 |
19 |
20 |
20.5 |
21 |
| Overall recovery |
63 |
65 |
67 |
69 |
70 |
| Minimum amount of recovery to be achieved through recycling |
94 |
94 |
94 |
95 |
95 |
Incineration with energy recovery
Energy from waste makes a significant contribution to achieving the UK’s overall recovery target with nearly 600,000 tonnes of combustible packaging recovered in 2003. However, recent European Court of Justice (ECJ) rulings mean that energy from waste may no longer be allowed to count towards the overall recovery target. If this position were confirmed, the UK would have to find around 500,000 tonnes of additional reprocessing capacity to meet the 2008 recovery target.
Furthermore, under the revised UK targets for 2004-2008, the Government has tightened the role of energy from waste meaning that it would contribute no more than 500,000 tonnes towards the overall targets by 2008.
Implications for the UK
In order to meet the revised targets of the UK Regulations, the Advisory Committee on Packaging has estimated that approximately 1.3 million tonnes of extra material will have to be collected and recycled in UK before 2008, broken down into the following material types:
| Material |
Amount of material needed to be collected on an annual basis to reach targets |
| Glass |
600,000 tonnes |
| Aluminium |
30,000 tonnes |
| Plastic |
70,000 tonnes |
| Paper |
550,000 tonnes |
| Steel |
40,000 tonnes |
In addition, the potential impact of the ECJ rulings (explained above) may also require the UK to find an extra 500,000 tonnes of recycling capacity to meet the overall recovery target of the revised Directive.
September 2004
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