UK Defra responds to Wood Recyclers’ Association plea for increased recycling targets

23 Jun 2023 --- The UK department for environment, food and rural affairs (Defra) says it is willing to increase packaging recycling targets for waste wood following a call to action by the Wood Recyclers’ Association (WRA).

The association sent a letter co-signed by the Wood Panel Industries Federation (WPIF) and Confor, a UK-based non-profit sustainable forestry and wood-using businesses, to Defra in May. The letter called for higher packaging recycling targets from 2024 to drive investment in recycling as much wood as possible.

The WRA targets the Packaging Waste Recovery Note (PRN), which determines how much support wood reprocessors receive through the UK system. The national support is currently set at 35% for 2023, the lowest for any material.

“If introduced, higher packaging recycling targets for waste wood would increase the level of support that the wood reprocessing industry (including panel board and animal bedding manufacturers) receives from packaging producers through the producer responsibility system for packaging,” Julia Turner, executive director of the WRA, tells Packaging Insights.

Boosting recycling targets
Co-signer of the letter, WPIF is a representative organization that aims to support the industrial manufacturers in the UK and Ireland of chipboard, oriented strand board and medium-density fiberboard.

Defra says it will look into adjusting the recycling targets for the PRN.Turner says the PRN is the only support the wood sector receives. If adjusted, it “will ensure as much wood is recycled as possible in line with the waste hierarchy (reuse first, followed by recycling, then recovery and lastly disposal).”

The resources and waste minister Rebecca Pow says she is open to increasing packaging recycling targets for waste wood. “I am encouraged that the wood sector is keen on higher recycling targets. As part of finalizing our extended producer responsibility (EPR) plans, we will confirm future recycling targets for all packaging materials.”

“I am open to increasing targets for wood packaging, and I have asked Defra officials to update on current thinking,” says Pow.

She stresses that Defra intended to “resume the work on reusable packaging including specific measures to increase the reuse of wooden pallets” to “deliver the intended environmental benefits associated with increased reuse, while still providing incentives to recycle waste wood packaging where appropriate at the end of life.”

Benefits for increase
Turner says that the WRA would like to see Defra retain the general packaging recycling target as this provides an incentive to exceed the material-specific targets and provides flexibility in the PRN system. “We also hope that any replacement to the PRN system under EPR continues to incentivize wood packaging recycling.”

Turner tells us she thinks “higher targets would help the packaging industry to ensure more wood packaging is recycled at the end of life and benefit the environment by helping to incentivize and drive investment in recycling.”

“Higher targets would also encourage wood packaging (which is higher grade wood) to be segregated so that it is separated from the mixed waste wood stream and is recycled into products such as panel board and animal bedding rather than used as feedstock for a biomass facility.”

Regarding wood and forest management, Packaging Insights investigated industry opinions on the fires in Canada and the wood packaging industry’s role in wildfires.

By Sabine Waldeck

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