The North London Waste Authority has warned that revised base fees for extended producer responsibility for packaging are too low and will impact the finances of local authorities.
Revised illustrative base fees for extended producer responsibility for packaging (pEPR) were published in September.
The base fees cover the amount that manufacturers will be required to pay for the production of packaging materials.
The announcement followed scathing criticism from the glass industry, with British Glass saying the fees were likely to have a “severe detrimental impact” on the sector.
However, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) always planned to publish refined figures once more data had been reported and checked by regulators because of “significant limitations” in the data used to create the original fees.
North London Waste Authority Chair, Councillor Clyde Loakes, said it was “disappointing” to see that the cost per tonne for most materials has been lowered.
Loakes said: “To those of us with front-line experience in this area, such moves appear to contradict Defra’s earlier pledge to crack down on waste and move to a circular economy.
“EPR fees should incentivise manufacturers to reduce packaging waste, and by not taking this forward as originally proposed, local councils will continue to pick up the tab for disposal.
EPR fees should incentivise manufacturers to reduce packaging waste, and by not taking this forward as originally proposed, local councils will continue to pick up the tab for disposal.
“As well as having worrying environmental consequences, the new base fees are likely to have significant economic consequences for cash-strapped local authorities.
“Councils have been paying to dispose of unnecessary and difficult-to-recycle packaging for years, to keep vital services running despite under-funding.”
Loakes said that next month local authorities will be given an estimate of EPR payments they will receive to finance the collecting and disposing of packaging materials.
“It is also hard to see how these revised base fees will cover the cost of the Emissions Trading Scheme – as proposed by the government’s recent consultation – and which local authorities will be required to fund from 2026,” Loakes said.
“This is particularly concerning at a time when local authorities across London are facing a £400 million funding shortfall, compounded in north London by the biggest increase in waste since Covid-19 – the collection and disposal of which represents an unavoidable cost for local authorities.”
Defra confirmed it has delayed introducing mandatory packaging labelling as part of EPR and said it will likely introduce mandatory labelling across the UK via an amendment to the forthcoming legislation in 2025, and the approach is likely to be consistent across all UK nations.
