UK environmental regulators have stepped into the packaging recycling evidence market after tighter accreditation and enforcement rules cut the availability of Packaging Waste Recycling Notes (PRNs) and Packaging Waste Export Recycling Notes (PERNs).
Regulatory Position Statements were issued on 9 October, prompted by concerns that some producers and compliance schemes might otherwise struggle to demonstrate compliance with their 2026 recycling obligations.
Reduced enforcement thresholds
Under the statements, regulators will not normally take enforcement action where businesses meet at least:
- 83% of the statutory plastic recycling obligation;
- 92% of the statutory steel recycling obligation;
- 90% of the statutory wood recycling obligation.
Full compliance remains required for all other packaging materials.
What drove the shortfall
The Foodservice Packaging Association (FPA) said the intervention followed a series of changes introduced during 2026 to strengthen the integrity of the PRN/PERN system. These included tighter accreditation requirements for reprocessors and exporters, a new fit-and-proper-person test, increased enforcement activity, and changes to export rules meaning PERNs can only be issued once packaging waste reaches the overseas reprocessing facility.
Defra says those measures have improved transparency and helped tackle fraud and error, but have also reduced the number of accredited reprocessors and exporters and increased the time taken for PERNs to be issued, constraining the supply of recycling evidence.
Obligations unchanged
The Environment Agency’s Regulatory Position Statement 383 makes clear that statutory recycling obligations have not been amended. Businesses satisfying the conditions of the RPS will not normally face enforcement action for falling short of the original targets in the three affected materials.
The regulator also confirms that Certificates of Compliance will continue to record non-compliance with statutory recycling obligations where those obligations have not been met, even if the business has satisfied the reduced RPS thresholds. Businesses relying on the RPS must retain supporting records for five years, meet their full obligations for other packaging materials and continue to comply with all other applicable requirements. The intervention applies only to the 2026 compliance year.
2027 targets under review
Defra has described the circumstances as exceptional and committed to reviewing recycling targets for 2027, taking account of factors including the introduction of the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) and the delayed mandatory kerbside collection of plastic film in England.
The FPA said the impact of DRS will be particularly significant. Under the current arrangements, in-scope PET plastic bottles and aluminium and steel drinks cans collected through DRS will no longer generate PRNs or PERNs, so valuable, relatively high-quality material will be removed from the existing recycling evidence market even though it will continue to be recycled through the new scheme. Unless recycling targets and obligations properly reflect that change, producers could face further difficulties securing sufficient evidence, the association said.
The delayed introduction of mandatory kerbside collections for plastic film in England, now scheduled for April 2030, adds another consideration when assessing the volume of material likely to be available for recycling and for PRN generation.
Longer-term reform of the PRN/PERN system also remains under consideration, following consultation on measures intended to improve transparency, reduce fraud and create a more level playing field between UK reprocessors and exporters.
Questions over how targets are set
The FPA said that with regulators having to intervene to prevent enforcement action, “serious questions” arise about how the system is being managed and how future targets are set. The association said it fully supports the drive to eliminate fraud and error, and that stronger accreditation, more rigorous verification and greater transparency are essential to maintaining confidence in the system. But it argued that if improving the integrity of recycling evidence exposes a substantial shortfall in its availability, that should prompt a fundamental examination of the assumptions on which recycling targets are based.
It also drew a distinction between providing relief from enforcement and resolving the underlying compliance problem, noting that the statutory obligations remain unchanged and that producers meeting the reduced thresholds may still have non-compliance recorded against them. Businesses need clarity about what this means in practice, including any wider implications, it said.
The review of 2027 targets must go beyond adjusting percentages, the FPA added. It needs to establish whether the targets are supported by demonstrable domestic and overseas recycling capacity and reliable evidence supply, and it must account for the introduction of DRS in October 2027, when in-scope PET plastic, aluminium and steel drinks containers collected through the scheme will cease to generate PRNs or PERNs. The delayed mandatory kerbside collections for plastic film must also be reflected in those calculations, and the assessments should be transparent and open to industry scrutiny, the association said.
Producers are already facing significant financial and administrative pressures from the wider packaging reform programme and should not also be exposed to unpredictable compliance costs arising from a mismatch between regulatory obligations and the evidence market, it said. The test of the government’s response will be whether it delivers a more stable, credible and achievable system for 2027 and beyond.