What do you know about the “Producer Pre-treatment Regulations”? If you’re staring blankly at the screen, don’t worry – you’re not alone. In fact, according to a UGOV survey, you’re among the four out of five businesses who had no idea the compliance deadline for the new Regs was last Tuesday, 30th October.
If you’re now shouting at the screen, “So why didn’t you tell me earlier?!”, I have to admit that the first I heard of this was on last Tuesday’s “Wake Up to Money” (BBC Radio Five Live, 5:30/6:00 AM). The two contributors to the piece were a representative from the Forum for Private Business and a spokesperson for Envirowise, which provides free “government-supported environmental consultation, advice, and documentation forUK businesses”. The Envirowise spokesperson stated there had been a lot of publicity around the implementation – DEFRA (the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) had announced it in July 2005 and the Environment Agency had issued guidance last April. In addition, organisations like the CBI, as well as waste management companies, had been sending out leaflets; but (as the FPB rep retorted), the fact remained that the majority of businesses were unaware this was coming – and even if they knew it was on its way, they were confused about how it would affect them. After the programme, I set about my own research – which I have to say at times was like drawing teeth! I Googled the Regs as they were billed on the programme, but found very little. I didn’t do much better on a legal database. So I contacted the DEFRA helpline – and finished up feeling sorry for the poor girl on the other end, who seemed to have no idea what I was talking about! “We haven’t even had a press release on it”, she confessed, embarrassed. Finally, picking up on something in my Google research, I was able to trace the Regulations.
They are part of the Landfill (England and Wales) Regulations 2002, which bring the EU Landfill Directive into UK law. The Directive is scheduled to be fully in force by July 2009.
So what exactly are we expected to do as of last Tuesday? The complete answer needs more research – or an environmental law expert – but in summary:We need to “pre-treat” our rubbish before it goes to landfill. This could be as simple as taking trips to the bottle bank, or putting paper etc into a separate sack (as so many of us already do at home). Alternatively, we could just pay our existing waste management company to do it. It’s about removing and recycling what can be recycled, so reducing what goes to landfill. Yes, there is a cost to us as businesses – but if we don’t do it, we face potential fines (as yet the amount appears not to have been set – which it seems to me violates at least one basic principle of a fair legal system – the right to know the likely penalty before we commit the offence).
On the BBC programme, the FPB representative made his organisation’s position clear:It wasn’t the provisions themselves they objected to – they had no issue with the idea of businesses being encouraged to be “more resource efficient” (to quote the Envirowise spokesperson); but, he said, we also needed to be “information-efficient”. “Throwing money at advertising doesn’t necessarily mean engaging with the right people”.
So did you know about these Regs?; and if so, when and from where? If you didn’t, where do you stand – on the Regs themselves and the apparent lack of information about them? And on a broader point, where do you normally get this kind of information from?; Where – and how – would you prefer to have it delivered? Let me know. In the meantime, I’m in search of more information on these particular Regulations – and when I find it, I’ll pass it on.
Sherie Griffiths
