By the time you read this there will be less than two weeks left to submit our responses for DEFRA’s Consistency Consultation, with the deadline for the EPR and DRS Consultations having passed nearly three weeks ago – where has the time gone? I don’t think I can stress enough how important these reforms are going to be and how much they will impact the future of resources and waste management for local authorities, so if you are an English local authority, please do make sure you get your consistency response in before the 4 July deadline.
Whilst we welcome the changes that strive for improvements to the environment, it feels that local decision-making is going to be fundamentally affected by the consistency proposals. Mandating weekly food waste collections, the ability to charge for garden waste collections being removed (possibly), the type of recyclables we should be collecting (and how), and the frequency of residual waste collections, are all examples of policies which are currently decided locally but could be decided for us in future. I don’t think consistency in recycling and local decision-making are mutually exclusive; I really do believe that local authorities are best placed to make those decisions as we know our areas, our residents and businesses and have experience of what works and what doesn’t.
The Environment Bill
The primary legislation in the form of the Environment Bill is now progressing through Parliament but the secondary legislation and the proposed Statutory Guidance are likely to have the finer details that will have the main impact on local authorities, and we have been warned of the risk of a judicial review if we do not have regard to them. DEFRA says that they will consult on the Statutory Guidance ahead of it being published in 2022, so there will be an opportunity to have another say in the future. For the consistency response, DEFRA wants to see evidence, so make sure you provide as many facts and figures as possible. The more information we can all provide, the stronger our argument and the better the outcome for all local authorities.
Recyclable Packaging
Aside from consultations, I saw that a few weeks ago the consumer research company Which? published a packaging recyclability study and found that 32% of brand packaging in the UK is not easily recyclable. It also found that the quality of the recycling labelling was in the “amber” category and mentioned that even though the packaging on Toblerone was fully recyclable, the labelling did not indicate this and provided a barrier to the consumer. We know from OPRL’s research that consumers rely a lot on the information on labels to give them the answer to the packaging’s recyclability, and so hopefully EPR will address this in time. There has been talk about how the timetable for EPR is too “challenging”, but for me certain aspects of the changes can’t come soon enough, especially if consumers don’t know that cardboard and aluminium foil are recyclable and need a label to tell them.
Some manufacturers are already ahead of the curve with EPR and I have noticed in the news some changes already happening in product design. Unilever are to start making recyclable toothpaste tubes (finally!) from HDPE, launching later this year in France and India. I do hope they also find a way of getting the very last bit of toothpaste out of the tube too – wouldn’t that be good!
Stay safe.
