The new food producer-led body charged with helping the government run its extended producer responsibility packaging tax has found itself at the centre of a remarkable row with recycling bosses, over comments junking the current system.
UK Packaging PRO, backed by 100 UK food brands and trade bodies including the FDF, was announced in March as a new overseer for EPR. It began operating only last month.
However, a newsletter sent out by PRO founder member Incpen (Industry Council for Packaging & the Environment), has caused a furore after it declared that 2026 would be the last year of the Packaging Recovery Note (PRN) system – the currency that has been used to underpin recycling in the UK for two decades.
PRNs are the mechanism used to certify that producers have have met their statutory recycling obligations each year. The system has been described as “broken” by another PRO member, the BRC, while the role of companies acting as “middleman” in the system is the subject of fierce debate.
The government is to run a consultation later this year looking at a possible replacement to the PRN system now that EPR is up and running.
However, it is understood the Incpen newsletter jumped the gun by announcing that “from 2027” PRNs would be “phased out”, with packaging disposal fees under EPR becoming the sole financial mechanism for the UK’s system.
Sources told The Grocer the letter had gone down “like a lead balloon” with compliance schemes and recycling bodies, which have expressed fears that the producer-run body will “come in and tear up the current system”.
One said that alongside the recent comments from the BRC, the newsletter had cemented fears that the arrival of the PRO would threaten the existence of many companies, which have operated for years using the PRN system.
The Grocer has seen a letter from the Recycling Association addressed to Chancellor Rachel Reeves and environment secretary Emma Reynolds.
It says that “at a time when the UK recycling industry is struggling it is concerning to see the Food & Drink Federation and British Retail Consortium call for the removal of the Packaging Waste Recycling Note (PRN) system.
“We know that companies and households are facing a cost of living crisis, as we are too. Our businesses are paying more for energy and transport because of the Iran war while also supporting jobs in the green industry that is recycling. Through no fault of their own, the Iran war has also caused a huge amount of uncertainty for recycling businesses.”
The letter adds: “For nearly three decades, the PRN system has supported investment in UK recycling, helped drive up recycling rates and ensured that packaging waste does not go to landfill.
“It has done this while being extremely cheap for those who produce packaging compared to similar extended producer responsibility schemes in other parts of Europe.
The letter says that as ministers negotiate closer alignment with the EU it would be a “grave mistake” to take “short term cost-cutting measures” that would conflict with the EU’s move towards packaging reform and that it claims could lead to the closure of further UK recycling facilities.
It adds caustically that in the long term it would “cost much more to recycle the packaging that FDF and BRC members continue to place on the market”.
Incpen CEO Paul Vanston told The Grocer it had “acted quickly” to correct the statement about the demise of PRNs in an updated communication to its members.
He added: “‘We all have to work together towards national strategies set by the four UK governments and PackUK, and that’s our continued focus at Incpen, working with a vast array of partner sectors to jointly deliver good outcomes in often challenging value chain realities for everyone.”
However, the row over PRNs looks unlikely to go away. Another source told The Grocer: “In general, PRNs are a cryptocurrency that primarily benefits the middlemen. There’s little evidence of recycling rates improving since the system came in and now we have EPR what is the point in PRNs? It’s double charging for using the same materials.”
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