Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging

4 Jun 2021

FPC has responded to the UK consultation on the proposals for introducing Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging. This follows our earlier response to preliminary proposals in 2020.

The introduction of these subsequent proposals for Extended Producer Responsibility will have a significant economic impact on the UK fresh produce industry.

There is still insufficient information to understand how under this system the costs will be covered across the supply chain.

We welcome the phased introduction of some of the key elements but still have concerns about the burden on our members and request more engagement with our sector in the development of more detailed plans for delivery.

We believe that there needs to be full and proper accountability for any Scheme Administrator; in addition we have highlighted the following areas of concern:

• more complex data collection, reporting and labelling requirements will increase admin and costs for businesses;
• moving to actual packaging weights where feasible will add to admin and costs;
• lack of clarity of responsibilities between brand holders and those importing own-brand products on their behalf;
• impacts on SMEs with lowering of de minimis threshold;
• lack of approval and facilities for recycling plastic films and flexible packaging, commonly used for food contact packaging.

You can see our full response to the consultation here