GovWire

Accredited reprocessors or exporters recycle packaging waste discarded by UK businesses and households. They generate PRNs and PERNs.

Packaging producers, or packaging producer compliance schemes (PCSs) on behalf of their members, obtain PRNs and PERNs to meet their recycling obligations. The notes are evidence they have met their recycling obligation.

Changes to targets for the 2021 and 2022 compliance years

Operators cannot be accredited for recovering packaging materials. This is because of the 2019 consultation on packaging reform and the EU directive on packaging and packaging waste.

From 2021, reprocessors or exporters can only be accredited for recycling packaging waste discarded by UK businesses and households.

Check if you can apply for accreditation

You must have a UK presence with a UK address for receiving your business communication and be actively receiving, treating and recycling waste or exporting waste to be recycled overseas.

You must:

• recycle UK sourced packaging waste
• export UK sourced packaging waste for recycling

When you recycle the packaging waste into a new product or material it must need no further processing and meet end of waste status.

Application dates

The accreditation year is from 1 January until 31 December. You must submit your application by 30 September for your accreditation to start on the following 1 January (subject to accreditation).

You may apply any time during the year, but it may take up to 12 weeks to determine your application. Your accreditation start date may be later than 1 January but will always end on 31 December.

You cannot issue evidence notes on any packaging waste you received or exported before your accreditation start date.

Charges for accreditation application

UK reprocessors must apply and pay a fee for each facility. Exporters must apply and pay one fee for the company. The fee includes all the waste materials included in an application.

Reprocessors and exporters can apply for new waste material types, facilities and overseas sites. However, the regulators treat these as new applications and you will need to pay another application fee.

The amount you pay depends on the weight of PRNs and PERNs you plan to issue for the UK packaging waste you recycle or export for recycling in the compliance year. The annual fee is:

• 505 if you plan to issue 400 tonnes or less of PRNs or PERNs you will be classed as a small accredited reprocessor or exporter
• 2,616 if you plan to issue more than 400 tonnes of PRNs or PERNs you will be classed as a large reprocessor or exporter

You must total up the weight of all the materials you will issue PRNs or PERNs on to determine if you are a small or large reprocessor or exporter. For example, if you are an exporter and you issue 200 tonnes of paper PERNs and 201 tonnes of plastic PERNs, you are a large exporter.

Exporters can apply with no overseas reprocessing sites and add them once accredited. For each batch of extra overseas sites you add after your initial accreditation, you must pay 85 for the first overseas reprocessor and 35 for each additional site.

If you pay the lower charge but then issue PRNs or PERNs for more than 400 tonnes during the compliance year

You will have to pay the balance of 2,111 within 28 days of issuing the PRN or PERN for the 401^st tonne of packaging waste.

If you do not pay the additional fee:

• any additional evidence you issue may not be treated as valid
• your accreditation may be suspended or cancelled
• it may be a consideration when assessing a future accreditation application

Apply for accreditation

Apply online using the National Packaging Waste Database (NPWD).

Reprocessors must submit an application for each site. Each reprocessing site is accredited separately. An application can cover multiple materials but each accreditation is separate.

Exporters can submit an application with no, one or multiple overseas reprocessing sites. To issue PERNs, you will need to apply for at least 1 site, but you can add it after accreditation with the appropriate payment. Your accreditation does not authorise you to export waste. When exporting waste, you must follow the international waste shipments requirements. See the guide waste export and import.

Step 1

If you do not already have an NPWD account, request a user name and password from the environmental regulator of the UK country your main place of business is based.

Step 2

Log in to NPWD and specify the type of accreditation you are applying for reprocessor or exporter. You can submit multiple applications. Complete the online form. You do not have to complete it in one session, you can save and reopen to fully complete another time.

Step 3

Upload supporting documents. You can fill in the best practice templates provided in the Advisory Committee for Packaging (ACP) section of NPWD.

Reprocessors need to upload:

• a business plan
• a sampling and inspection plan
• recording systems
• details of the recycling processes used

Exporters need to upload:

• a business plan
• a sampling and inspection plan
• recording systems
• for non-EU and non-OECD sites, evidence that the site the waste is being exported to meets the same environmental standards
  

  View the original news story