Food and drink firm Princes has committed to ensuring that all of its packaging is recycled and handled solely by UK re-processors, rather than exporting the waste abroad, to gain more certainty that its packaging is recycled or dealt with appropriately. Princes produces around 7% of the UK’s plastic bottles by volume, largely through its soft drinks and oil brands and own-label products. In a bid to better handle the processing of its produced waste, Princes has vowed to only work with UK firms in acquiring recovery notes (PRNs) from recycling businesses.
Current UK legislation requires businesses with an annual turnover of £2m handling more than 50 tonnes of packaging to highlight that they’ve met Government recycling targets through PRNs, which can be acquired from UK recycling firms and waste exporters. Princes states that export PRNs (PERNs) are less transparent, due to a limited ability to ensure compliance outside of the UK. Currently, the Environment Agency accredits exporters but has limited ability in ensure compliance in other countries.
As such, Princes has announced a commitment to work with the Valpak compliance scheme to only purchase UK-sourced PRNs. Funds from the PRN purchases will be used to boost the UK’s packaging recycling system. Princes estimates that around £4-5m will be invested in UK recycling infrastructure as a result. Princes’ corporate relations director David McDiarmid said: “All of Princes current packaging obligations can be met by UK recyclers and we see it as our responsibility to do what we can to ensure our waste does not become Eastern Europe or South East Asia’s problem.
Source: Edie
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