Large producers had been expected to submit two reports on their packaging use or production by 1 October 2023 and 1 April 2024, as legally required under England’s Packaging Waste (Data Reporting) Regulations 2023.
Government advice, however, published in a regulatory position statement (RPS) in early September, has now advised that the Environment Agency will not enforce these deadlines.
Instead, producers now need to submit both reports, separately, before 31 May 2024, or face enforcement action.
Ecoveritas, a specialist environmental consultancy for the packaging industry, has warned producers to do their best to abide by the original deadlines, which are still required by law even if not enforced.
Rebecca Webber, Ecoveritas’ operations manager, said: “We encourage companies to do their best to meet their existing deadlines.
“We understand that this packaging data is vital to improving the modelling of illustrative base fees, which producers so desperately need to plan effectively for the future.
“Defra cannot provide producers with the indicative costs they urgently require without this data.”
Not all deadlines have shifted, however, and producers are still required to file reports as normal under the 2007 regulations.
Webber added: “It's important to remember that filing under the old 2007 regulations remains unchanged, so one-half of business reporting remains the same even as the other half constantly shifts.
"Clearly, the rollout of EPR continues to be an absolute omnishambles, but it's businesses who will pay the price if they get any details wrong in a last-minute scramble to meet the new May deadline."
Dick Searle, chief executive of the Packaging Federation, told Printweek that continuing delays to the scheme – following July’s delay of packaging fees to 2025 – are well needed for proper implementation.
He said: “[EPR] is such a complex piece of legislation, and many parts of it are not yet clear at all. The reality is that it is simply not ready for implementation, and that’s why we’ve had to have these latest delays.
“The greatest significance of this announcement is the fact that the government has actually listened, and is delaying enforcement to give everybody more time to do it properly.”
