After more than four years of negotiations, the Environment Agency (EA) and its solicitors have officially accepted in principle the FPC's take on the ownership of packaging under the regulations.
The basic principle in place is 'he who creates the waste is responsible for it', and therefore the costs of disposal are recoverable from suppliers should the importer wish to recover them.
The FPC has estimated the cost of compliance to the industry at £20 million or approximately 2p a carton.
FPC president Richard Brighten said: 'For the EA to accept in principle is a big step forward for this industry - I'm sure there are not many industries that have achieved this.
'There is acknowledgement now that the level of detail required of companies under these regulations is largely impractical for this industry and the next step is to reach an acceptable compromise.' Chief executive Doug Henderson added: 'For four years we have been discussing how these regulations can be implemented. Now there is an opportunity to discuss the practicalities and how to change the regulations.' Until that happens of course, the industry must continue to comply.
The letter, signed by Henderson and endorsed by the FPC importers' division which represents the vast majority of the UK's largest importers, read: 'Implementation of the EU directive on packaging waste, 94/62/EC, is placing a considerable financial burden on importers, wholesalers and distributors of produce in the UK. Currently we have estimated that the total cost to our industry is running at approximately £20m per annum, a figure that will rise substantially in the future.
'The principle that our government has adopted in the UK is that the 'producer' of the waste should be responsible for the cost of recycling and recovery. This means that the cost being carried by UK importers should be recovered from their suppliers with the intention of encouraging a move to reusable packaging.
'Currently some importers are already recovering this cost from their suppliers. To help create a level playing field we are providing details to all our members and suggesting that they should urgently discuss the matter with their suppliers, so that any action they wish to take is in place by January 1.
'The options available to them are to include the costs as a deduction in their account sale, or by addressing the issue in their price negotiations/returns for goods that are purchased firm.' The FPC's wholesale division supported the contents of the letter at its annual convention in Cambridge last weekend and chairman Brian Daykin said: 'This is a question of understanding where the various sectors of the industry are coming from and working to. Many people at grower level are unaware that packaging waste is their responsibility. Wholesalers need to engineer the recovery of costs into their profit margins and how to do that is a decision for each individual company.' There is a turnover threshold of £2m in place for compliance. The FPC intends to recommend a sliding scale up to £25m, which while reducing the 'intolerable burden' the regulations place on smaller companies within this industry, would still achieve the objective of the EA to comply with EU requirements for collection of data on packaging waste in each member state.
