Written question asked by Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour) on Wednesday, 8 March 2023, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 22 March 2023. It was answered by Lord Benyon (Conservative) on Thursday, 16 March 2023 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Packaging: Recycling

Question: To ask His Majesty's Government whether their Extended Producer Responsibility Scheme will continue to recognise and incentivise private collection schemes, such as those which collect compostable packaging from closed-loop (on-premise) settings.

Answer: Under Extended Producer Responsibility, producers who collect and recycle consumer packaging waste at their own cost, where it is not commonly collected by local authorities for recycling, will be able to reduce their obligation to pay fees to cover the costs of managing household packaging. This is intended to support our transition to higher recycling rates as we invest in improved collection, sorting and recycling systems for hard to recycle packaging, or transition to using packaging that is already widely recyclable.

Secondary information