Corporate report

Compliance monitoring and enforcement activity 2019

Updated 22 May 2020

This corporate report was withdrawn on 27 June 2022

View newer information at Packaging producer responsibility monitoring 2021 and Packaging producer responsibility monitoring 2022.

Applies to England

This report provides a statement on the actual monitoring done and successes achieved during 2019.

Executive summary

The Environment Agency published its 2019 policy and monitoring targets in the 2019 monitoring plan. We monitored 288 people during the 2019 calendar year, well above our target of 170.

Using a risk based approach, we carried out compliance monitoring of accredited reprocessors and exporters, packaging producers and compliance schemes. We completed site inspections via pre-arranged or unannounced visits.

Where we identified non-compliance, we followed our enforcement and sanctions policy and associated guidelines to determine the appropriate enforcement action. During 2019, we:

• imposed 18 suspensions on accredited companies
• cancelled 2 accreditations
• refused 14 accreditation applications
• caused 10 companies to withdraw their accreditation applications

We accepted 21 enforcement undertakings (EUs) from packaging producers in 2019. This resulted in £520,087 in financial contributions to environmental projects. Since the introduction of civil sanctions for the packaging regulations in 2011, we have accepted 285 EUs. These have made financial contributions of £6,021,520 to environmental charities.

Provisional figures indicate that in 2019, the reported UK packaging recovery rate was 73.76%, of which 68.42% was reported as being recycled. These recovery and recycling rates exceed the European Union Directive targets of 60% recovery and 55% recycling.

In summary:

• the final 2019 UK total recovery obligation was 8,200,034 tonnes – an increase of 92,500 tonnes on the 2018 final UK obligation
• all UK schemes met their 2019 obligations – the UK scheme obligation was 7,784,500 tonnes

All UK direct registrants purchased their packaging recovery notes (PRNs) to meet their obligations. The obligation was 415,534 tonnes and the:

• carry over PRNs increased from 354,692 tonnes into the 2019 obligation year to 499,739 tonnes into 2020
• year ended with the highest number of accredited plastic reprocessors and accredited plastic and paper exporters

Table showing compliance monitoring 2019

-	2019 target	2019 actual	Compliance with plan
Producers	N/A	109	N/A
Accredited operators	160	169	106%
Compliance schemes	10	10	100%

Monitoring and enforcement

Performance in 2019

We monitored 288 people during the 2019 calendar year, well above our target of 170.

Monitoring of registered producers

We continued to monitor producers who are registered:

• directly with us
• via compliance schemes

When we establish our national monitoring priorities or local monitoring programmes, we do not differentiate between:

• direct registrants
• those registered via compliance schemes
• those registered with different compliance schemes

At the registration stage, we assessed the submitted information and data from 5,400 registered producers. This included comparing data submissions with those from previous years. We reviewed and validated all direct registration applications to make sure we published accurate data. We sought explanations and corrections where we considered submitted data to be inaccurate.

Our officers audited 109 producers in 2019, an increase from the 56 we did in 2018.

Every year, before the end of the compliance period, we provide advice and guidance to direct registrants that have not purchased sufficient evidence to meet their obligations. In 2019 we started this work 2 months earlier than usual to help companies meet their obligations and in turn, help the UK meet its recycling targets. This work supported all direct registrants meeting their obligations for 2019.

Monitoring of unregistered producers (freeriders and drop offs)

It is not possible to determine the actual number of freeriders. There are no readily available centralised records, or information, which can easily identify who would have responsibilities under the packaging regulations.

Where we investigated and identified an obligated producer as not being registered (‘freeriding’) we considered our enforcement options. These were in line with our enforcement and sanctions policy. In certain cases, we accepted an EU offer.

Throughout 2019, we contacted 90 companies who were identified as potential freeriders. Of these:

• 29 were not obligated
• 40 registered following contact
• 13 were obligated and are in the process of registering
• 8 investigations are still ongoing

One of the options available to us is an EU, a form of civil sanction. We accepted 21 EUs from packaging producers in 2019. This resulted in £520,087 in financial contributions to environmental projects bringing the overall amount paid to environmental projects through EUs to over £6 million since 2011.

The largest EUs since 2011 were for:

• Costcutter Supermarkets Group Ltd at £650,000
• HiPP UK Ltd at almost £415,000
• Filippo Berio UK Ltd, at £254,000

The largest EUs in 2019 were for:

• L.E.C. (L’Pool) Limited at over £120,000
• Kennelpak Ltd at £75,000

We are in the process of investigating additional freeriders that appear to have had past offences.

After the registration deadline in April 2019, 511 businesses failed to re-register without providing an explanation (drop offs). Throughout the compliance year, we have worked with compliance schemes and the other UK regulators to bring these businesses back into compliance. As a result, 484 companies have either re-registered or identified as no longer being obligated.

Where businesses failed to register, the Environment Agency will consider its enforcement options in line with its enforcement and sanctions policy. The remaining 27 companies had a combined obligation in 2018 of 6,404 tonnes. This represents 0.08% of the total UK obligation.

Monitoring of compliance schemes

In 2019 there were 25 approved packaging compliance schemes registered with the Environment Agency. We mostly monitor scheme operators through:

• analysing data returns
• record keeping

We compare them with data we get from monitoring individual scheme members. Our aim is to check that conditions of approval have been complied with and to identify and address any failures.

We carried out quarterly desk based monitoring of all 25 compliance schemes in 2019, which also involved discussing their compliance position. All schemes met their obligations in 2019. We also audited 10 compliance schemes during 2019.

In 2019, we established and agreed a Terms of Reference with the Packaging Scheme Forum (PSF). This collaborative way of working enables the PSF and UK regulators to liaise effectively on operational issues that arise from the packaging waste regulations. They aim to resolve and agree the issues identified.

Monitoring of accredited reprocessors and exporters

The Environment Agency accredits and monitors the activities of reprocessors and exporters of UK packaging waste. This involves an initial site inspection to determine the application and compliance monitoring activity during the period of accreditation. Accreditations have to be renewed each year.

We monitored (on a risk basis) sampling and inspection plans at the application stage of accreditation. This was to make sure they were robust and reliable. We did this via desk based monitoring and site visits.

Once accredited, we monitored the application of all sampling and inspection plans during site inspections and through desk based monitoring.

During 2019 we monitored 169 operators for compliance via site inspections (against a target of 160). As a result of compliance assessments (both site based and desk based) we suspended 18 and cancelled 2 accreditations. We communicated these decisions to industry. This was to:

• inform them of reduced availability of evidence onto the market
• request them to send a deterrent message on the consequences of non-compliance

This shows we’re working towards our priority of reducing fraud as well as encouraging compliance. This enforcement activity has also helped to inform decisions on applications for accreditation.

We have changed the waste recording functionality on the National Packaging Waste Database after working closely with the Advisory Committee for Packaging and the other UK regulators. The changes aim to support more accurate information being recorded by accreditations, help improve our compliance monitoring and help us tackle fraud.

The changes take effect from the 2020 compliance period. They require plastic accreditations to record the type of plastic packaging. It also makes clear that 100% packaging should only be used if the accreditation can demonstrate via an audit trail that the packaging waste does not include any non-target material.

We have been working with our legal team to implement additional conditions of accreditation on all packaging exporters and reprocessors for 2020. This will help clarify what we expect operators to do to comply and strengthen our ability to take proportionate enforcement action where we identify non-compliance or fraud.

Successes

We carry out quarterly desk based monitoring of all our accreditations. This identified concerns with the volume of waste plastic packaging being reported by an accredited reprocessor. As a result we did an audit of the site. We found the evidence the company had issued was non-compliant. After identifying the issues, we cancelled the accreditation to remove them from the system and prevent further non-compliance. We are investigating the situation.

We began an investigation into another accreditation – intelligence suggested they might be claiming evidence on non-packaging and non-target material. We are investigating the circumstances and have cancelled their 2019 accreditation.

We investigated another company because we suspected they had issued PRNs on material which was not eligible. We disrupted the company and refused their 2019 accreditation to remove them from the system.

We brought a company back into compliance when we identified they had made waste recordings for packaging that was not recycled. We suspended the company with steps to address the suspension. Corrections were made in the companies waste recordings allowing us to lift their suspension.

The pan area teams carried out compliance monitoring of accredited reprocessors and exporters which has resulted in us taking a number of actions, including:

• issuing formal advice and guidance to an accredited exporter – this, along with close working with the Producer Responsibility Regulatory Service also resulted in a ‘Minded to Refuse’ for 2020 – the business has since improved the quality of their data and has now been accredited
• identifying the site of an accredited exporter as poorly maintained – following formal advice and guidance the operator has made major site improvements
• bringing 2 former non-compliant accredited reprocessors into compliance – they are now operating without issues
• preventing an accredited reprocessor from breaching a bespoke condition
• bringing a former non-compliant accredited exporter into compliance – they are now operating without issues

We request Annex VII forms from some packaging exporters 3 days before they export. We target exporters we consider present the highest risks, based on a range of factors.

We request the Annex VII documents using an ‘information notice’ issued under the Transfrontier Shipment of Waste Regulations. This information is extremely useful for our compliance monitoring work. Here is a summary of some of its uses and successes:

• we use the information gathered alongside other datasets to target shipments deemed to be higher risk
• we use the information to help us develop intelligence to better understand the risk from the operators and load sites
• it has enabled us to target container stops identified as illegal shipments
• we have identified interim sites that are not final recovery facilities, thus meaning the Annex VII was illegal
• companies have stopped exporting to certain sites following our interventions
• containers stating they were going to one country on the Annex VII but were destined for another upon inspection, have been stopped
• exporters have cancelled shipments following our enquiries
• one company temporarily stopped exporting pending an internal review of procedures after numerous issues were raised with them