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Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive – Background

Background information on the UK Packaging Regulations, the Governmenet's Advisory Committee on Packaging, and the EC Packaging Directive. EU targets, Commission implementation reports and Article 21 Committee.

UK Background 

The Directive has been transposed into UK law by two regulations: 

  • The Packaging (Essential Requirements) Regulations 2003 (as amended)
  • The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 2007 (as amended)

Packaging (Essential Requirements) Regulations  

The regulations set out the requirements that all items of packaging must meet before being placed on the UK market. The essential requirements are, in summary:

  • Packing volume and weight must be the minimum amount to maintain necessary levels of safety, hygiene and acceptance for the packed product and for the consumer.
  • Noxious or hazardous substances in packaging must be minimised in emissions, ash or leachate from incineration or landfill.
  • Packaging must be manufactured so as to permit reuse or recovery in accordance with specific requirements.

The regulations are enforced by the Trading Standards on behalf of BIS.  They can investigate complaints of excessive packaging and can offer guidance on specific packaging products and proving compliance.

Methodological Standards have been developed which can be used to help comply with essential requirements. Full details of the standards are available from (BSI) British Standards Institute) 

Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations

The UK meets the Packaging Directive’s recycling and recovery targets for packaging waste through these regulations, which are based on the principle of the producer responsibility. 

Companies above the threshold of a £2million annual turnover and handling more than 50 tonnes of packaging a year pay for a certain proportion of the UK obligations to recycle packaging.

Companies fulfil their obligation by buying Packaging Waste Recovery Notes (PRNs) or Packaging Waste Export Recovery Notes (PERNs).  These have a market value which can fluctuate in relation to demand for the notes in relation to the supply of recycled material; the UK recycling targets set for that year; and the amount of PRNs/PERNs companies or compliance schemes already purchased

Companies can join a compliance scheme to deal with their obligation for them, or directly register with enforcement authorities: the Environment Agency (in England and Wales), Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (Scotland) or Environment & Heritage Service (Northern Ireland).  Further information is available on the Defra website. 

Advisory Committee on Packaging (ACP)

The Government set up the ACP to advise Defra and BIS on policy development relating to the Packaging Waste Regulations.  The ACP is chaired by, and composed of industry representatives from across the packaging chain, with enforcement agencies and other government officials taking part.

Details of the ACP, appointments and details of sub-committees and working groups are available on the Defra website.

EU Background

The Packaging Directive aims of:

  • harmonise national measures so as to prevent or reduce the impacts of packaging on the environment of all Member States and Third Countries and to remove obstacles to trade and distortion and restriction of competition; and
  • prevent the production of packaging waste, and reduce the amount of waste for final disposal through packaging re-use, recycling and other forms of recovery.

European targets

The recover and recycling targets set by the original Directive for packaging waste were revised in 2004 by an amending Directive 2004/12/EC, increasing the recycling tagets to be by Member States by 2008 to 60% overall recovery of packaging waste; 55% minimum to 80% maximumrecycling of packaging waste. The amending Directive also set material specific recycling targets be weight, as follows: glass (60%), paper and board (60%), metals (50%), plastics (22.5%), and wood (15%). The UK achieved these targets at the end of 2008 and in some cases exceeded them, but mustnow at least maintain these levels. 

Commission reports on implementation of the Directive

In December 2006, the European Commission announced that the recycling and recovery targets contained on the Packaging Directive are currently optimal and proposed these should remain stable to enable all the Member States to catch-up with these targets.

A study by Commission appointed consultants on the implementation of the Directive’s Essential Requirements was published in 2010.

Article 21 Committee

The Article 21 Committee is the Directive's Technical Adaptation Committee (TAC) established by Article 21 of the Packaging Directive. It is chaired by the European Commission and its members are national experts of each Member State. The committee meets once every 12-18 months to discuss issues on harmonisation and implementation of the Directive.

BIS makes public its unofficial notes from these meetings which are distributed via an BIS electronic mailing list. To be added to this list please email env.regs@bis.gsi.gov.uk Copies of the latest meeting notes can also be downloaded from the related documents section.