A new and improved website to help companies meet their packaging and recycling obligations has been launched this month. The National Packaging Waste Database (NPWD) aims to make it easier for companies who are required by law to recycle a proportion of the packaging waste they produce. It is hoped the NPWD will aid national planning and help identify companies failing to meet their obligations. Under the old system, the recovery notes, which were evidence that a company's obligations had been carried out, were paper based, and were therefore open to potential abuse and fraud. With the new website, electronic packaging waste recovery notes (ePRNS) and electronic packaging waste export recovery notes (ePERNS) will be introduced, and can be tracked online at the touch of a button. Any discrepancies will be monitored and followed up with greater speed and efficiency.
The website was funded and developed by a partnership between the industry and the Environment Agency, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and the Environment and Heritage Service (EHS).
In other packaging news, a consultation on proposed changes to the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations SI 2005/3468, as a result of the NPWD, closed on 17 November 2006. Draft Regulations which, when they become law, will revoke and replace the 2005 provisions have just been published. Once approved will come into force later this year.
