With the first invoices landing with an enormous thump last week, the much-maligned EPR packaging tax is now a stark reality. Any lingering hopes that someone somewhere (preferably close to No 11) might wave a magic wand and make it all disappear have all but vanished.
Instead, minds are now increasingly focused on how EPR can actually provide the £10bn-plus investment to revive flatlining council recycling rates and lead to the circular economy that it was all supposed to be about in the first place.
But what is the secret to doing that?
According to Defra, the main thing is for the government, as quickly as reasonably possible, to get out of the way and let industry get on with the job.
At least, those were the words of Defra’s circular economy director Emma Bourne at the London Packaging Week summit last week.
“As a government, you always need to ask yourself the question, do I need to intervene or do I need to get out of the way?” said Bourne. Her verdict was clear; on EPR it was time for the latter.
Along with that seismic statement came clear proof that Defra and PackUK plan to hand over virtually all powers, bar keeping an independent eye on the billions of pounds changing hands, to whoever wins the bid to head up the new producer-run organisation. The process to appoint that leader will kick off in the coming weeks.
Industry to take control
Indeed, PackUK boss Jeremy Blake, who only started his £135,000-a-year job a few weeks ago, admitted he felt like a “turkey voting for Christmas” as he looks to hand over the vast majority of its functions to the industry.
That language will no doubt please those within government, including new Defra boss Emma Reynolds, who is busy looking at ways to slash the huge cost to the government of its dozens of arm’s-length bodies – of which PackUK is just one of a very long list of tukeys.
It will also be music to the ears of industry bodies vying for control of EPR, with a bid spearheaded by the FDF and backed by heavyweights including the BRC and Incpen currently seen as favourite to win, although others remain in the race.
However, the prospect of the industry taking control over EPR will certainly not please everyone, especially the Local Government Association, which is in uproar over suggestions the food and packaging industry could control local services such as bin collections.
“Decisions about collections and services must remain in the hands of communities, not handed over to producers whose priority will inevitably be profit,” says Cllr Arooj Shah, environment spokesperson for the LGA.
Yet without ringfencing and accountability, the cash that Defra promises will pour into local council coffers over the next decade won’t just be resented, it may never happen at all.
And while even the most optimistic voices have given up hope that EPR will simply go away, Defra’s assurance that it intends to make itself scarce, in theory at least, should mean that those with the greatest stake in making EPR a success are the ones in charge of driving it forward.
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