UK regulators have intervened in the packaging recycling evidence market after tighter 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 set reduced enforcement thresholds for three materials, aiming to prevent producers and compliance schemes from struggling to demonstrate compliance with 2026 recycling obligations.
For plastic, steel and wood, regulators will normally not 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.
Temporary relief, unchanged obligations
The Environment Agency’s Regulatory Position Statement 383 makes clear that statutory recycling obligations have not been amended. Businesses that satisfy the RPS conditions will normally avoid enforcement action for falling short of the original targets in the three affected materials, but Certificates of Compliance will still record non-compliance where statutory obligations have not been met. Companies relying on the RPS must retain supporting records for five years, meet full obligations for other packaging materials and continue to comply with all other applicable requirements. The intervention applies only to the 2026 compliance year.
The Foodservice Packaging Association (FPA) said the intervention followed a series of changes introduced during 2026 to strengthen the integrity of the PRN/PERN system. These included tighter accreditation requirements for reprocessors and exporters, a new fit-and-proper-person test, increased enforcement activity and changes to export rules. Under the revised export rules, PERNs can only be issued once packaging waste reaches the overseas reprocessing facility.
Defra says those measures have improved transparency and helped tackle fraud and error. But the department also acknowledges that they have reduced the number of accredited reprocessors and exporters and increased the time taken for PERNs to be issued, constraining the supply of recycling evidence.
Relief is not the same as compliance
The distinction matters. Regulatory relief lowers the immediate risk of enforcement for some producers; it does not create additional evidence, increase recycling capacity or rewrite the underlying obligations. The FPA warned that producers meeting the reduced thresholds may still have non-compliance recorded against them and need clarity about what this means in practice, including any wider implications.
The FPA also said the need for regulators to intervene raises “serious questions” about how the system is being managed and how future targets are set. It fully supports the drive to eliminate fraud and error from the PRN/PERN market, arguing that stronger accreditation, more rigorous verification and greater transparency are essential to maintaining confidence. But it added that if improving the integrity of recycling evidence exposes a substantial shortfall in its availability, that should prompt a fundamental examination of the assumptions on which recycling targets are based.
2027 review must account for DRS
Defra has described the circumstances as exceptional and committed to reviewing recycling targets for 2027. That review is expected to take account of factors including the introduction of a deposit return scheme (DRS) and the delayed mandatory kerbside collection of plastic film in England.
The FPA said the impact of DRS will be particularly significant. Under current arrangements, in-scope PET plastic bottles and aluminium and steel drinks cans collected through DRS will no longer generate PRNs or PERNs. Valuable, relatively high-quality material will therefore be removed from the existing recycling evidence market, even though it will continue to be recycled through the new scheme. Unless recycling targets and obligations properly reflect that change, producers could face further difficulty securing sufficient evidence to demonstrate compliance.
The delayed introduction of mandatory kerbside collections for plastic film in England, now scheduled for April 2030, adds another consideration when assessing the volume of material likely to be available for recycling and the generation of PRNs. Longer-term reform of the PRN/PERN system also remains under consideration, following consultation on measures intended to improve transparency, reduce fraud and create a more level playing field between UK reprocessors and exporters.
The FPA said the review of 2027 targets must go beyond adjusting percentages. It needs to establish whether the targets are supported by demonstrable domestic and overseas recycling capacity and reliable evidence supply. Crucially, it must also account for the introduction of DRS in October 2027, when in-scope PET plastic, aluminium and steel drinks containers collected through the scheme will cease to generate PRNs or PERNs. The delayed introduction of mandatory kerbside collections for plastic film must also be reflected in those calculations, and the assessments should be transparent and open to industry scrutiny.
Producers are already facing significant financial and administrative pressures from the wider packaging reform programme, the FPA added. They should not also be exposed to unpredictable compliance costs arising from a mismatch between regulatory obligations and the evidence market. The test of the government’s response, the association said, will be whether it delivers a more stable, credible and achievable system for 2027 and beyond.