The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024

64 Household packaging waste disposal fees: modulation

(1) This regulation applies in relation to the calculation of disposal fees payable by liable producers for the 2026 assessment year and subsequent assessment years. (2) Subject to paragraphs (12)(b) and (13), the scheme administrator must, for each liable producer, modulate in accordance with this regulation the amounts calculated under regulation 62 (“household packaging waste disposal fees”) for each packaging category of household packaging supplied by the producer. (3) In this regulation, to “modulate” an amount means to— (a) apply an increase to the amount; (b) apply a reduction to the amount; or (c) leave the amount unchanged, for the purposes in paragraph (4). (4) Those purposes are— (a) to reflect the extent to which household packaging supplied by the producer in the packaging category in question is environmentally sustainable; and (b) to incentivize the producer to use packaging which is more environmentally sustainable. (5) Where the scheme administrator modulates an amount that has been calculated for a liable producer under regulation 62, it must use the modulated amount in calculating the disposal fee payable by the producer. (6) For the purposes of this regulation, packaging is “environmentally sustainable” if it is designed and manufactured to reduce— (a) its impact on the environment; and (b) the generation of waste. (7) In assessing the extent to which household packaging is environmentally sustainable, the scheme administrator must take into account one or more of the following factors— (a) whether the packaging is reusable; (b) the extent to which the packaging is reused; (c) the recyclability of the packaging; (d) the environmental impacts of the manufacture, transportation and use of the packaging; (e) the environmental impact of the packaging when it becomes waste. (f) whether the amount of packaging material used is no more than reasonably necessary to fulfil the purpose of the packaging. (8) Where a liable producer has not provided sufficient information to enable the scheme administrator to determine for the purposes of paragraph (4)(a) the degree of environmental sustainability of all the household packaging supplied by that producer in a packaging category, the scheme administrator is to treat that packaging as having the same degree of environmental sustainability as the least environmentally sustainable household packaging in that packaging category. (9) The scheme administrator must, in determining how to modulate a household packaging waste disposal fee, take into account any foreseeable environmental implications of its proposed decision. (10) Where a household packaging waste disposal fee or part of such a fee relates to medical packaging, the scheme administrator must, in modulating that fee, take into account whether any other legislation which applies to the medical packaging prevents the producer from using, or restricts the ability of the producer to use, more environmentally sustainable packaging. (11) The scheme administrator may not modulate household packaging waste disposal fees for an assessment year in a way which, taking all those modulations together, has the effect of increasing the total of those fees to an amount which is greater than the total amount of net efficient disposal costs likely to be incurred by relevant authorities in that assessment year in relation to household packaging waste. (12) The scheme administrator— (a) must modulate household packaging waste disposal fees under this regulation in accordance with the statement of policy published by the scheme administrator under paragraph 8 of Schedule 7; and (b) may not make any modulations unless it has published that statement. (13) Where paragraph (14) applies, the scheme administrator may defer starting to modulate household packaging waste disposal fees for online marketplace operators, either for one or more packaging categories or for all packaging categories, until a later assessment year than the 2026 assessment year. (14) This paragraph applies if— (a) the scheme administrator specifies packaging sub-categories for the purposes of paragraph 3 of Schedule 4 in relation to classes of producers other than online marketplace operators; and (b) the scheme administrator considers that— (i) it would be significantly more burdensome for online marketplace operators than for other classes of producers to be required to collect and report the information referred to in paragraph 3 of Schedule 4 for those packaging sub-categories; and (ii) that burden would be disproportionate to the environmental benefit of modulating the fees for online marketplace operators.