UK packaging waste legislation: Implications for food retailers

The Producer Responsibility Regulations incorporated the EU Packaging Waste Directive into UK law in March 1997. The UK legislation adopted the concept of the “polluter pays” by sharing the responsibility for waste packaging recovery across the whole supply chain. However, the retailer as the last member of the supply chain assumed the greater share of 47 per cent of waste recovery targets. The operational and resource implications for individual company obligations were compounded by the introduction of a complex waste collection scheme involving third‐party waste recovery operators trading packaging recovery notes (PRNs). The UK approach has been criticised as “bureaucratic, ill‐conceived and confusing”, requiring companies to provide data on all primary, secondary and transit packaging they have generated, recovered and recycled over the previous year. While many retailers were unprepared for the complexities it created, others view the legislation as an opportunity to reduce waste, optimise their packaging supply chain and reduce costs. This paper will examine and compare the impact of the new regulations on various food retailers. Findings are discussed from a series of in‐depth interviews with a number of senior managers involved in implementing the legislation. In particular it discusses the initiatives carried out to comply with the regulations, the impact on existing logistics networks and the investment required to implement the regulations.