Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Producer Responsibility Team

Seacole Building

1 Marsham St 

London

SW1P 4DF

22 October 2024

22 October 2024

22 October 2024

Northern Ireland reports in accordance with the new calculation rules.

The derogation to make use of average loss rates has not been applied.

Table : Institutions involved in the collection of data and distribution of tasks.

RD codes from Directive 2008/98/EC.

RD codes from Directive 2008/98/EC.                              

Not clear what is being asked for.

Northern Ireland does wish to take into account the amount of wooden packaging that is repaired for reuse in the calculation of the targets laid down in point (f), point (g) (ii), point (h) and point (i) (ii) of Article 6(1) of Directive 94/62/EC.

Northern Ireland wishes to take into account the amount of metals in incineration bottom ash (IBA) for the calculation of the targets.

Pallets - wood.

Other recovery’ of waste - not available.

100% of energy recovery is from R1 incinerators.

The UK does not routinely collect this data, as storgare requirements fall under a separate set of Regulations.

Under the provisions within the Regulations operators are permitted to store packaging waste prior to recycling, but it is only eligible to be counted against targets for the year in which it was received. The conditions and criteria for storage will be site specific and linked to the reprocessor/exporter accreditation.

The regulators seek to ensure that only eligible packaging waste is counted as part of their audit and inspection regime.                                     

Waste producer.

All waste producers’ companies.

Northern Ireland.

1 year.

Not applicable.

Tonnes.

Calendar year.

Directive 94/62/EC sets out the EU’s rules on managing packaging and packaging waste ( Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste).

Institutional Mandate - data sharing :  Statistics on packaging and packaging waste are in accordance with the Commission Decision 2005/270/EC.

European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

All data are aggregated before being published.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Annual.

Not applicable.

Please find the information at these websites:

• Packflow covid 19 reports.
• Recoup.

Please find information at this website (Environment agency).

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

No documentation apart from metadata.

No documentation available.

No QA procedure.

No Quality management assessment.

Eurostat, other users.

Not available.

Data are complete.

The main issue is the proportion of the market that is not required to report the amount of packaging handled, due to the de minimis for small businesses in the UK regulations. This requires research to calculate the total packaging POM, taking into account the non-reported fraction.    

The UK has a voluntary system for accreditation of packaging waste reprocessors and exporters. Due to the financial advantage of accedtiation (the ability to sell evidence of recycling), it is assumed that the majority of operators are captured in the system and report data though there is not total coverage. However, it is likley that there is an amount of recycling (and exporting) for which data is not captured.                               

The data for Northern Ireland is based on the agreed methodology for calculating the packaging on that market.                                  

The information in this section is to provide an overarching understanding of the accuracy of any statistical surveys used relating to packaging waste. Some of the information may be available in previous questions.

The latest PackFlow report will be published later in 2024.

The information in this section is to provide an overarching understanding of the accuracy of any statistical surveys used relating to packaging waste. Some of the information may be available in other concepts.

Standard <5%.

Inconsistencies occur, as even if free-riders contribution to POM is accounted for, it is usually estimated as part of the total proportion of POM not arising from obligated producers and can therefore not be disaggregated.

T+ 18 months.

Data delivered to Eurostat before 01.07.

Not applicable.

There have been no changes to method for calculation. Any changes result from updates in the data.                                  

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Explanation detailing the causes of the tonnage difference (in relation to which waste streams, sectors or estimates have caused the difference, and what the underlying cause is) for any component of packaging waste generated and recycled which shows greater than a 10 % variation from the data submitted for the previous data year.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Northern Ireland did not correct backwards data series.

Details can be found - National Packaging Waste Database (environment-agency.gov.uk).

The waste samples for waste analysis are taken from:

Data is reported by producers annually.

data is reported by reprocessors and exporters quartly.

Data is provided by producers, reproessors and exporters.

The data for NI is calculated using the agreed methodolgy, based on size of the NI market.

All composites, where it is not possible for the materials to be easliy separated, are reported under the majority material.                                     

Additional information about the methodology, including the combination of methods used:

The UK has adopted a position of counting the recovery and recycling at the point packaging waste enters a UK recovery or recycling facility or at the point of no return for exported packaging waste destined for recovery/recycling outside of the UK. Reprocessors and exporters submit reprocessing logs via an online portal (NPWD) this automatically uploads the data onto the quarterly returns on NPWD which they then have to submit to the relevant agency by the above deadlines.
The data provided on a quarterly basis is the amount of packaging waste received or exported for recovery/recycling, split across the type of packaging material i.e. paper, plastic, wood etc.

Submitted data is checked as part of a desk based assessment and is also audited as part of site based inspection. During a site visit the EA t have recorded the heycorrect tonnages of packaging material by cross checking with other information, including waste transfer notes, weighbridge tickets, delivery notes, commercial contracts, financial payments, export documentation and their own internal recording systems which records each transaction.

Method statements can be found in each of the packaging flow reports (see links in SUB-conceptS of 10).

These are being reviewed and will be updated in 2023.                                       

The data for Northern Ireland is based on the agreed methodology for calculating the packaging on the NI market.                                       

Calculation of recycling of metals from incinerator bottom ash : Detailed description of the method to collect data in order to calculate the amount of metals separated from incineration bottom ash in accordance with the Commission Implementing Act adopted in accordance with Article 37(7) of Directive 2008/98/EC.

For PoM data, this is cross checked with inductry production data, sales data and data on waste collection from municipal sources.

Any exporter who wishes to issues Packaging Waste Export Recycling Notes (PERNs) is required to seek accreditation by the relevant regulator. The accrediation process requires each exporter to demonstrate how it will comply with the broadly equivalent requirements (by providing details of the final destination sites for any related exports) and compliance with any relevant regulations for waste export - Please find more information at this website (Accreditation).

Any exporter who wishes to issue Packaging Waste Export Recycling Notes (PERNs) is required to seek accreditation by the relevant regulator. The accrediation process requires each exporter to demonstrate how it will comply with the broadly equivalent requirements (by providing details of the final destination sites for any related exports) and compliance with any relevant regulations for waste export - Please find more information at this website (Accreditation).                                     

The columns in the table relate to information on verification procedures used within the national statistical reporting system to validate the accuracy of the data.

The columns in the table relate to information on verification procedures used within the national statistical reporting system to validate the accuracy of the data.

Not clear what is being asked for.

Primary sources and their shares in the total.

(*) Necessity of a certain minimum amount of waste, turnover etc. to be registered 

Primary sources and their shares in the total.

(*) Necessity of a certain minimum amount of waste, turnover etc. to be registered

Packaging waste generated estimated by waste analysis.

All methodologies are described in the associated reports on material flows (e.g Packflow-covid-19-reports) funded by Defra and co-written by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP, environmental charity) and Valpak (Environment Consultancy). A Steering group of key stakeholders for each packaging material was consulted to review the research and guide the choice of methodology and data sources. All data used in these reports was deemed reliable, robust and the best available. Accordingly, the estimates of packaging  are as accurate and robust as possible notwithstanding the data limitations. The report quantified UK POM for each material was compiled using a large range of data sources, and developed scenarios for later years based on assumptions of future changes in espected production and sales.

This is not applicable to the UK system: it is not based on the initial weight collected. The measurement point, which is the same as the point for the issue of evidence of recycing is the point at which no further processing is needed for the material to enter the final reprocessing activity (i.e. 'front of furnace').                                           

details of the quality protocol for compost can be found here.

Organic recycling (R3):

• organic compost from packaging waste that meets the standards set out in the Quality Protocol for composting;
• anaerobic digestate from packaging waste that meets the standards set out in the Quality Protocol for anaerobic digestate;
• biomethane from packaging waste that meets the standards set out in the Quality Protocol for biomethane.

Composite materials are counted as part of the majority material, where it is not possible to easily separate.       

Description of the sorted packaging waste to which ALRs are applied, types of sorting plants to which different ALRs apply, the methodological approach to calculating ALRs at such point(s), including the statistical accuracy of any surveys used, or the nature of any technical specifications.

Limited information available. See sections below.

Description, where applicable, of the methodology to exclude non-packaging waste from the reported amount of recycled packaging waste and of the methodology to correct the amount of packaging waste at the measurement point in order to reflect the natural humidity rate of packaging (including by using relevant European standards). Aggregated data across facilities of a similar type is acceptable.

Description of the methodology to exclude waste originating from other countries, where applicable. Aggregated data across facilities of a similar type is acceptable.

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