31 October 2024
Key members of the Plan B team recently attended the LARAC Conference and Awards in Birmingham this month. LARAC is the leading voice for local authorities on recycling, waste and resource management issues.
With all of our core activity falling within the remit of the conference – Consultancy, Materials Sales and Managed Service – it was a great opportunity to showcase the work we do. We welcomed waste and recycling officers from across the UK to our stand. Topics under discussion included EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility), Simpler Recycling and changes to sampling and testing.
EPR is the change to the cost management of packaging waste. Producers will now be required to pay the full net costs of managing and recycling the packaging waste they produce through a system of modulated fees. The hope is that this will encourage packaging that is kept to a minimum, whilst designing in recyclability. The burden of cost will switch from Councils to Producers.
Simpler Recycling seeks to standardise recycling services with Councils required to collect certain materials. This will create greater consistency across the UK, although Councils will control how they collect material. Weekly separate food collections will be mandated and from April 2025 businesses, schools and hospitals will be required to separate their dry recycling and food waste. Looking further ahead, plastic film packaging will be collected from April 2027.
Changes to sampling and testing were also up for discussion. Recycling sites that bulk or treat some household waste materials will be considered a ‘Materials Facility’ if it expects to receive 1,000 tonnes or more of waste material (as defined by the Regs) in the next 12 months. Facilities managers will need to notify the regulator in writing if they expect to deal with this amount of waste material. Materials Facilities will be required to conduct input sampling, output sampling and measurement of the waste material processed. The approach to sampling and testing must be detailed in the sampling methodology, which the regulator may request.
We’re helping our clients understand exactly what these different discussions and changes mean for their work. To find out more about how we can help and our approach, please get in touch.