October 25, 2024 15:57

Recoup, a voice on plastics resource efficiency and recycling, has called on the government to enhance the effectiveness of the Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT), applied for two years to plastic packaging that does not contain at least 30% recycled material and recently raised to £271.85 per tonne.

According to the organization, declarations regarding recycled content are not sufficiently verified or properly enforced, especially for imported packaging, both filled and unfilled.
There have been many instances where packaging claims to meet the 30% recycled content requirement to avoid paying the tax, with some claims either not being technically possible or cleverly using the term "pre-consumer" material, which may not contain any recycled content at all.

This situation disadvantages British recyclers and companies complying with the law, regularly paying the plastics tax on packaging.

This issue is likely to affect the European market as well, with the enforcement of minimum recycled content targets in packaging, and potentially in other products, such as vehicles, in the future.

"An incentive to include recycled content, even if it has to be a tax, is a force for good as long as it’s properly enforced," said Steve Morgan, Recoup’s policy and infrastructure manager. "However, the UK imports around half of the plastic packaging it places on the market, and this includes packaging with claims of recycled content."
Morgan believes that the lack of enforcement is making UK recyclers commercially unviable, as they must compete with cheap imports of virgin packaging and packaging with recycled content from countries with significantly lower costs and greater access to materials.

"If these false claims, particularly from imported material, continue, we could see a collapse of the plastic packaging recycling system in the UK as we know it," he concluded. "Urgent action is needed."

The lack of controls also leads to tax evasion, reducing the resources available to support recycling investments. In the latest report on tax revenues, released in September, a 6% drop was noted over the past year, from £285 million to £268 million, due to a decrease in the volumes subject to taxation.

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