Advisory Committee on Packaging publishes PRN guide

A guide explaining the operation of the UK packaging recovery note (PRN) system has been published by the Advisory Committee on Packaging (ACP).

The guide is designed to provide comprehensive information for all interested parties on how the system for packaging waste recycling operates and what it is designed to achieve.

The PRN system is the mechanism used by packaging producers in the UK to meet the requirements of the European Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive and the UK Producer Responsibility Regulations for Packaging.

In practice, it requires packaging producers to provide a financial incentive to the packaging recycling industry to collect and reprocess enough material to meet government targets. According to the guide, the system ‘provides a “top up” subsidy over and above market prices to incentivise reprocessors to process sufficient material’.

Producers are required to ensure that an equivalent amount of packaging waste of the relevant materials has been recovered and recycled to meet their obligations. They do this by purchasing PRNs, or packaging export recovery notes (PERNs) for material that is exported, from reprocessors. The ACP says that the funds raised by the system are then used by the recycling industry to incentivise increases in capability towards meeting future targets.

While the report states that the system provides low-cost compliance to producers, and subsequently consumers, compared to other European schemes and has been proven to help achieve government targets, it also acknowledges some criticisms of the system. These include the fact that it does not specifically target given material sources, for example household packaging, and that funding can be difficult to trace and demonstrate impact, particularly for local authorities.

The report also includes information on the UK recycling performance together with analysis of the reported use of PRN funds by reprocessors.

Commenting on the guide, Chairman of the ACP Phil Conran said: “The guide provides a wealth of information which I hope will be useful to a wide range of stakeholders from individual companies and trade associations to recycling companies and local authorities.