UK – agricultural waste plastics collection and recovery programme

Call for Expressions of Interest

As a result of the new Agricultural Waste Regulations to be introduced in early 2006, 137,000 farms in England will have to find alternative means of disposing of non-natural waste. There is currently no integrated system in place to assist farmers once the new legislation takes affect.

As part of its consultation paper on the new regulations, the Government also consulted on its proposal to introduce a Producer Responsibility scheme to deal with the management of non-packaging waste farm plastics. This approach means that producers who place these plastics on the market would be financially responsible for the collection and recycling of at least a proportion of the resulting wastes. Work has begun in Government to develop a Producer Responsibility scheme.

In order to help prepare the industry for the introduction of the new regulations, a national Agricultural Waste Stakeholders Forum (AWSF) has been established. The Forum includes representatives from the National Farmer‘s Union, Agricultural Industries Confederation, Crop Protection Association, Environmental Services Association, national and local Government and the Environment Agency. The aims of the AWSF include the reduction of agricultural waste by the industry, increased recovery of wastes and the development of practical, integrated systems and infrastructure for the management of waste.

The AWSF has been successful with an application to Defra regarding the use of BREW Programme funds to support the investigation, development and promotion of a producer responsibility Farm Plastics Collection and Recovery Programme in England. This will include working with Government‘s advisory groups on the development of a system of Producer Responsibility for non-packaging farm plastics