Environmental compliance

What are the latest developments? We’ve picked out some highlights for November 2024:

PPWR and WFD (textiles): final stages underway
UK packaging: indicative EPR fees updated
UK WEEE: important changes for non-UK sellers

PPWR and WFD (textiles): final stages underway

PPWR

The EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) is nearing completion after years of negotiations. The legislative process was not completed before the EU elections in June, although political agreement was reached.

As a result, the newly elected European Parliament will have to rubber stamp the work of its predecessor in a process known as the corrigendum procedure.

The Parliament’s Legal and Linguistic Service has examined the text and made changes to ensure legal certainty and coherence.

The revised text will be presented during the November plenary session. If 36 MEPs or more signal dissent, the text could be reopened for renegotiation within the Parliament and with Member States.

WFD (textiles)

Similarly, the legislative process on the Waste Framework Directive (WFD) was not concluded before the European elections.

In this case, the European Parliament, the Council of the EU and the European Commission stopped the process before the trilogue negotiations could finalise the amendments, which are due to add requirements for food and textile waste, including the introduction of extended producer responsibility (EPR) for textiles across the EU.

These discussions are expected to start in the coming weeks with the aim of finding a compromise between the positions of Parliament and Member States.

Hungary, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, will chair the upcoming talks. The country has signalled its ambition to strengthen some of the food waste elements within the WFD.

UK packaging: indicative EPR fees updated

The UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has updated its overview of the indicative extended producer responsibility (EPR) fees for packaging to be introduced next year.

The table sets out low, medium and high fees for each packaging category, based on three corresponding scenarios for local waste management costs.

The amounts are in pounds sterling (GBP) per tonne of packaging:

UK WEEE: important changes for non-UK sellers

Following new guidance from the UK’s Environment Agencies, overseas companies that are not established in the UK, placing EEE on the UK market via indirect selling only, will no longer be obliged to register as EEE producers from the 2025 compliance year.

Any EEE sold indirectly should now be reported by the first UK-based entity to place it on the market: for example, the importer, distributor or retailer.

Previously, some non-UK companies selling EEE products indirectly to the UK market could register as EEE producers in place of the local UK-based importers and/or distributors.

This change has been made to align policy with the producer definitions set out in the UK WEEE regulations.

What do I need to do if I am impacted by the changes above?

• If you are a non-UK company selling indirectly to the UK market, you will need to de-register with your EEE producer compliance scheme, or the Environment Agency depending on your type of registration
• If your non-UK company is selling both directly and indirectly, you should continue to register and report EEE that you sell directly to UK end-users, and
• If you are based in the UK and have EEE which was previously declared by an indirect non-UK seller, you will now need to report these volumes. We encourage liaising with your compliance scheme and/or the Environment Agency to determine if any resubmissions are needed for past periods.

If you are selling to the UK market and are unsure of your requirements, please contact H2 Compliance for support or additional information here.