Waste Management Data Required for Extended Producer Responsibility in the UK - (i) Evidence Requirements for Linking Material Reprocessors and Exporters Back to Others in the Chain, (ii) Waste Composition.

Aim of research

To determine the standard of evidence needed to support successful extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging in terms of data and other information that links reprocessors and exporters back to others in the chain, the options for providing this, the standard of that evidence required to enable the system to be effectively enforced and the calculation of common metrics including municipal recycling rates. To identify how waste composition should be recorded for successful EPR for packaging.

Background

To successfully implement EPR for packaging, all stakeholders, including government need to be confident that all data requirement and availability issues, including financial data, are sufficiently covered to ensure high levels of transparency and to protect against the risk of fraud. The introduction of digital waste tracking may help fill some but perhaps not all data gaps. Modelling will also be helpful but is not likely to be sufficient in itself.

To be successful EPR must enable capture and flow of adequate 'evidence' (i.e. data and other information) from reprocessors and exporters back up the chain to the so called 'First Points of Consolidation' (see EPR consultation for further explanation of this new category or waste site - Extended Producer Responsibility). The reasons for this are twofold: 1) it will support mass balance monitoring of packaging, reducing the risk of fraud or misreporting, thereby increasing transparency and producer confidence in the system; 2) it could help facilitate incentive payments for high quality collection, sorting and reprocessing to either to meet government imposed targets or producers demands.