Crisis talks aimed at salvaging Defra’s flagship environmental strategy, Extended Producer Responsibility, are said to have descended into “new levels” of farce this week.
More than 700 people from across different sectors of the industry took part in the first meeting of what has been billed the Business Readiness Forum.
However, the call was dominated by concerns over the lack of readiness, with feedback afterwards ranging from critical to downright unprintable.
A circular sent out after the meeting by one senior industry source, seen by The Grocer, said: “Comments I’ve already heard from colleagues who attended (I’ve opted to not include more robust language I’ve heard today) … Incredulity, Frustration, A shambles, Do they know what they’re doing?”
The source said there had been “loads of questions, few, if any, answers”, adding “where were the Defra policy people?”.
Another source described the meeting as a “total car crash”.
The Grocer exclusively revealed in November that environment secretary Thérèse Coffey had called for urgent talks in what has been seen as a last-ditch attempt to save the strategy. The FDF and BRC are among industry bodies to have called for the introduction of EPR to be postponed for at least a year, which would leave the government environmental strategy in disarray.
The government has been consulting for more than four years on its plans to make the industry responsible for the packaging it places on the UK market, with the scheme due to come into force in 2024.
At the meeting, the government unveiled its new “obligation checker”, which was supposed to clarify what responsibilities various parts of the industry would have under EPR. But a long succession of companies complained they did not have data over crucial information such as how much EPR would cost them.
“It’s not fair that we’re expected to do all this work for EPR yet you can’t tell us what it’s going to cost us or give us solid answers,” one source wrote in the Q&A.
Meanwhile, the meeting also heard more predictions of chaos from the lack of a joined-up approach to deposit return schemes to be launched across the UK, with Scotland due to launch in August but the UK government still yet to publish its final plans.
A Defra spokesman said: “Our Extended Producer Responsibility scheme, which is on track to be introduced from 2024, will transform the way we deal with packaging waste responsibilities.
“The scheme will sit alongside other waste reforms introduced by government, including proposed bans on more single-use plastic items, a deposit return scheme for drinks containers and consistent recycling collections, on top of targets for reducing packaging waste.”
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