The UK is narrowing the scope and extending the implementation timeline for its revamp of the extended producer responsibility (EPR) system for packaging waste. The new EPR regulations, which are to ensure that the full cost of packaging waste is shifted from local governments and consumers to producers, are to be phased in from 2024 rather than 2023 as originally planned.
The implementation targets were pushed back because restructuring the system will require detailed work to implement and time is needed by businesses to prepare, as well as to avoid placing a burden on consumers, explained the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) in a summary of stakeholder and government responses to a consultation on EPR reform which was released on 26 March....
