At the annual LARAC Conference on 9 October 2024, Margaret Bates, head of the scheme administrator for extended producer responsibility for packaging (pEPR), announced that local authorities can expect their indicative payments by November 2024. The event also featured a keynote address from Andy Rees OBE, head of waste strategy for the Welsh government.
Day one of the two-day conference will be followed by an awards ceremony this evening, while yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of LARAC's scholar programme.
Update on Defra Policies
In her speech, Bates provided an update on several Defra initiatives, including pEPR, Simpler Recycling, and the Circular Economy Strategy. She noted that a meeting of the pEPR steering group would take place soon to discuss producer responsibility organisations (PROs) and their co-design process.
Local authorities will receive finalised fees after April 2025. Bates also assured the audience that the government remains committed to the Simpler Recycling timeline, originally proposed in October 2023 by the previous administration.
Furthermore, Bates discussed Labour's commitment to creating a Circular Economy Strategy aimed at reducing waste and promoting a zero-waste economy in England. She highlighted ongoing challenges, such as the limited availability of waste data, which has been an issue since over half of recycling datasets were phased out by the Conservative government since 2010, as revealed by the Copper Sustainability Partnership (CuSP).
Welsh Success in Recycling
Andy Rees OBE shared insights from Wales’ highly successful recycling efforts, particularly the Welsh Collection Blueprint introduced in 2011 and updated in 2016. Wales currently holds the second-highest recycling rate in the world, surpassed only by Austria.
Rees emphasised that reducing the frequency of residual waste collections has significantly improved recycling rates. Two Welsh local authorities now collect residual waste just once every four weeks. Additionally, 100% of local authorities in Wales offer separate weekly food waste collections, covering 99% of households.
Rees concluded by affirming Wales’ ambitious goal of achieving a 100% recycling rate by 2050, demonstrating that even the most deprived areas of the country can achieve high recycling performance.
You can view our previous story, "Defra announces Simpler Recycling update [10.06.2024]".
