PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT

You may well have been misled by the media into thinking that our Government is keen to promote recycling and offer assistance to recycling companies.

This is not true; there is no support or assistance provided for 'independent recycling companies'.

However, if your company is obligated to the 'Packaging Regulations' you will be aware of the PRN (Packaging Recovery Note) system. This is effectively a tax on the producer of packaging waste, and the funds raised by the sale of PRN's should be used to increase recycling capacity, improve collections, and develop new markets.

But as the UK continues to move towards a tertiary business environment, manufacturing here is prohibited by cost, so the first point is failing dismally; One of the largest UK papers mills has already closed, closely followed by another the following year, and yet more imminent closures have been announced.

Despite this, please don't think it's all doom & gloom, because a few large organisations are benefiting greatly from the system!

As the majority of UK reprocessors who issue PRNs also own their own collection companies, they keep the funding raised by PRN sales in-house and in many cases spend it on commercial projects to compete with long established independent companies. So be assured, the cost of your obligation is not being distributed accross the industry to improve collections, it is indeed making the shareholders of several FTSE listed companies very wealthy!