Jurisdiction: Scotland
Commencement: 1st April 2024
Amends: The Packaging Waste (Data Reporting) (Scotland) Regulations 2023
The Packaging Waste (Data Reporting) (Scotland) Regulations 2023 are in force from 28th February 2023.
Duties are imposed on producers* in Scotland to collect data on the amount and type of packaging** they put on the United Kingdom (UK) market from March 2023 (or from January 2023, if they have this data). The data is required to calculate the fees that producers will have to pay from 2025 as part of the new Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). The new EPR system aims to deliver a more circular economy by charging producers to cover the collection and disposal costs of their packaging once it becomes waste.
*Producer, for the purposes of these Regulations, means an organisation operating in the UK as:
- a brand owner;
- a packer / filler;
- an importer;
- a first UK owner;
- a distributor;
- an online marketplace operator;
- a service provider; or
- a seller.
**Packaging is any material that is used to cover or protect goods that are sold to consumers and includes anything that is designed to be filled at the point of sale, e.g. coffee cups.
Exempt packaging
The following types of packaging are exempt from the requirements of these Regulations.
- Reused packaging which is primary packaging (packaging that is in direct contact with the product itself, e.g. wine bottles).
- Production residues from the production of packaging.
- Packaging exported from the UK (except to a marine installation).
- Reused secondary or tertiary packaging (except packaging imported into the UK).
- Packaging which is already regulated as packaging for a scheme article under The Deposit and Return Scheme for Scotland Regulations 2020. The deposit and return scheme covers sealed drinks (e.g. cans of drinks) rather than single-use coffee cups which are covered under these 2023 Regulations.
N.B. These Regulations will be replaced by The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Waste) Regulations 2024, which will include provisions for the introduction of the EPR.
Various duties apply.
Definitions and responsibilities for reporting packaging waste have been updated.
Drinks
For the purposes of defining packaging, where a drink container is made up of multiple components made of different materials, the drink container is to be treated as being made of the same material as the component which is predominant by weight, unless the predominant component is made of glass. In that case, each component of the container has to be treated separately.
Household packaging
The following types of primary or shipment packaging are not classed as household packaging.
- Packaging supplied to a business or to a public institution who is the final user of that packaging.
- Packaging for a product where the product is designed only for use by a business or a public institution, and the packaging is not likely to be disposed of in a household bin or a public bin.
- Packaging imported and discarded into the United Kingdom by an importer.
Producers
A packer / filler, or importer is classed as a producer of filled packaging if the packaging they fill or import:
- has no brand owner established in the United Kingdom;
- the brand owner is not a large producer; or
- has a brand on the packaging that relates to the packaging and not to the product contained in that packaging.
Where different individual products are grouped together to be sold as a single sales unit, the producer of the following must be determined.
- The packaging for each individual product within the sales unit.
- The packaging for the sales unit as a whole, including any packaging within the sales unit which is not part of the individual packaging.
UK owners
A first UK owner is a producer of packaging where:
- the packaging is packed or filled in the United Kingdom on behalf of a person who is not established in the United Kingdom;
- at the time it is packed or filled, no person established in the United Kingdom is or has been the owner of the packaging; and
- the filled packaging is supplied to the first UK owner.
A first UK owner is classed as a supplier for packaging which:
- has not been supplied before coming into the ownership of the first UK owner; and
- is discarded by the first UK owner in the United Kingdom.
An importer is to be treated as “supplying” packaging or packaging materials which the importer imports into and discards in the United Kingdom.
Data reporting
Where a large producer is also a first UK owner, they have obligations to report the data listed in regulation 17.
Data recycling
Where data has already been reported under The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 2007 a large producer may choose to submit a supplementary report identifying the proportion of packaging that has already been reported on.
Reporting period
Producers must ensure that data submitted for the period between 1st January 2024 to 30th June 2024 complies with the requirements in regulation 17.
If a producer does not have sufficient data to report from the period 1st January 2024 to 1st April 2024, they:
- are not required to report data from that time period; and
- must report data from 1st April 2024 to 30th June 2024.
Monitoring
SEPA is required to publish a list of large producers and produce guidance in relation to the definition of “household packaging”.
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