UK regulators have intervened in the packaging recycling evidence market after stricter accreditation and enforcement rules reduced the availability of Packaging Waste Recycling Notes (PRNs) and Packaging Waste Export Recycling Notes (PERNs). Regulatory Position Statements issued on 9 October respond to concerns that some producers and compliance schemes could otherwise struggle to demonstrate compliance with their 2026 recycling obligations.
For plastic, steel and wood, regulators will not normally take enforcement action where businesses meet at least 83% of the statutory plastic recycling obligation, 92% of the steel obligation and 90% of the wood obligation. Full compliance remains required for all other packaging materials. The Environment Agency’s Regulatory Position Statement 383 makes clear that the statutory obligations themselves have not been amended; it says businesses that satisfy the RPS conditions will not normally face enforcement action for falling short of the original targets for the three materials.
The intervention follows changes introduced during 2026 to strengthen the integrity of the PRN/PERN system. These include tighter accreditation requirements for reprocessors and exporters, a new fit-and-proper-person test, more enforcement activity and revised export rules under which PERNs can be issued only after packaging waste reaches an overseas reprocessing facility. Defra says the 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 needed to issue PERNs, constraining the supply of recycling evidence.
Businesses relying on the RPS must keep supporting records for five years, meet their full obligations for other packaging materials and continue to comply with all other applicable requirements. Certificates of Compliance will still record non-compliance with statutory recycling obligations where those obligations have not been met, even if a business has satisfied the reduced RPS thresholds. The intervention applies only to the 2026 compliance year.
Defra has called the circumstances exceptional and has committed to reviewing recycling targets for 2027, taking account of the introduction of the deposit return scheme (DRS) and the delayed mandatory kerbside collection of plastic film in England. The Foodservice Packaging Association (FPA) said the DRS will have a particularly significant impact: under current arrangements, in-scope PET plastic bottles and aluminium and steel drinks cans collected through the DRS will no longer generate PRNs or PERNs. That will remove valuable, relatively high-quality material from the existing evidence market even though it will continue to be recycled through the new scheme. Unless targets and obligations properly reflect that change, producers could face further difficulty securing sufficient evidence to demonstrate compliance.
The FPA added that the delayed introduction of mandatory kerbside collections for plastic film in England, now scheduled for April 2030, is another factor in assessing how much material will be available for recycling and PRN generation. It said longer-term reform of the PRN/PERN system also remains under consideration after a consultation on measures to improve transparency, reduce fraud and create a more level playing field between UK reprocessors and exporters.
According to the FPA, the need for regulators to intervene to prevent enforcement action raises serious questions about how the system is managed and how future targets are set. The association said it fully supports efforts to eliminate fraud and error and that stronger accreditation, more rigorous verification and greater transparency are essential to maintaining confidence. But it argued that if improving the integrity of recycling evidence exposes a substantial shortfall in availability, the assumptions behind recycling targets should be fundamentally examined.
The FPA also drew a distinction between relief from enforcement and solving the underlying compliance problem. It noted that statutory obligations remain unchanged and that producers meeting the reduced thresholds may still have non-compliance recorded against them, adding that businesses need clarity on what this means in practice, including any wider implications. For the 2027 review, the FPA said adjusting percentages would not be enough: the targets must be supported by demonstrable domestic and overseas recycling capacity and reliable evidence supply, and must account for the DRS start in October 2027 and the delayed plastic film collections. It called for those assessments to be transparent and open to industry scrutiny.
Producers are already facing significant financial and administrative pressure from the wider packaging reform programme, the FPA said, and should not also face unpredictable compliance costs caused by a mismatch between regulatory obligations and the evidence market. The test of the government’s response, it added, will be whether it delivers a more stable, credible and achievable system for 2027 and beyond.