RECOUP position statement wants a changed UK Plastic Packaging Tax

Claims of recycled content are not sufficiently verified or enforced, says the plastics resource efficiency and recycling charity.

As of April 2024, the packaging tax is applied at a cost of £217.85/t for plastic packaging placed on the UK market that is not claimed to have 30% recycled content. However, several issues have been identified over this time.

The charity says there are examples of where packaging claims to meet 30% recycled content to avoid paying the tax but this percentage is not technically possible. It also notes that using the term ‘pre-consumer’ material, might not actually mean recycled content at all.

Steve Morgan, Head of Policy and Infrastructure at RECOUP notes, ‘Lack of enforcement is increasingly making the UK recyclers commercially unviable due to having to compete with cheap imports of virgin packaging and packaging with recycled content from countries with significantly lower cost base and greater access to material.’

RECOUP also calls for an urgent review and overhaul of the Packaging Recovery Note (PRN) system to provide a more stable, commercially supportive and modulated PRN for plastic packaging formats where targeted funding is needed the most.

The position statement Considerations & Recommendations for a more Effective Plastic Packaging Tax can be downloaded.