The government has urged businesses to call a confidential 24-hour hotline to report producers suspected of “freeriding” on its controversial extended producer responsibility (EPR) regulations, amid fears thousands of non-compliant companies are driving up the cost for the rest.
With the 1 April deadline for all obligated producers to register under EPR looming, the Environment Agency (EA) told The Grocer it had already taken action against more than 1,000 companies in the last five months to bring them into compliance.
It said more than 800 companies had now come into line with requirements, with nearly 200 more due to submit their latest EPR data shortly, whilst a further 270 had been deemed to be no longer obligated.
Large companies with an annual turnover of £2m or more, or that are responsible for supplying/importing more than 50 tonnes of packaging, were required to have submitted their data for EPR by October 2023, although the deadline was extended to May last year.
The government has published a list of large companies reporting their data, which shows that as of the first half of 2024 there were 5,531 companies reporting out of an estimated 6,000.
The EA told The Grocer it planned to publish a list of smaller registered producers – those with a turnover exceeding £1m, or handling more than 25 tonnes of packaging – in the summer. These producers are required to provide data despite not having to shoulder EPR fees.
All obligated producers are required to register under EPR responsibility by 1 April 2025, with the first fees for large producers due in October.
However, sources claimed there was huge uncertainty over the number of companies that should be providing data, especially among smaller producers.
One source claimed the government “simply has no idea” how many small companies had so far failed to deliver data or register for EPR, and experts warned the more packaging went undeclared the greater the burden of the estimated £1.5bn a year costs on large companies.
“Most of the big companies are now signed up,” a source said. “As for the smaller companies, we believe that for many of those who have still not signed up it may be a cause of being uninformed rather than deliberate evasion.
“There is still a big problem with many companies simply not aware of their obligations.
“It’s important to remember that the base fees for EPR are calculated by dividing packaging waste management costs by the total amount of household packaging placed on the market.
“The more that goes undeclared, the more those that are registered will pay.”
Defra has already admitted its estimated fees for EPR could be an “overestimate” in part because of the thousands of tonnes of packaging waste that has remained unreported.
Valpak CEO Steve Gough said it was important EPR got the maximum possible sign-up to help reduce the impact on compliant companies.
“Valpak has always supported as many producers submitting in the system as possible and would encourage anyone who is not signed up to do so.”
The EA said it was using an “intelligence-led approach” to identify suspected non-compliant businesses and it would continue to use a range of sanctions to get greater participation.
“The new extender producer responsibility regulations for packaging provide the EA with expanded enforcement options, which include everything from issuing guidance and warnings through to civil sanctions and prosecution,” a spokesman said.
“Our approach is intelligence-led, risk-based, and proportionate and in the last five months we have brought more than 840 suspected non-compliant companies into full compliance.”
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