Minister Ryan signs new packaging and packaging waste rules into law

The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan, has signed new rules into law updating Ireland’s approach to how producers are responsible for packaging and packaging waste, to improve Ireland’s overall environmental performance.

The amending regulations change the obligations of so-called 'major producers'. These are producers who place 10 tonnes or more of packaging on the market annually and have an annual turnover of more than €1 million.

To comply with their obligations under the packaging regulations, 'major producers' are now required to become a member of an approved body. Repak operates Ireland’s only existing approved body for packaging. Previously, producers had the option to 'self-comply' under local authority oversight. However, this has been removed.

The changes are being introduced to drive Ireland's collective environmental performance by supporting producers to do better in terms of packaging design, education, accountability and traceability. There are now ambitious new 2025 and 2030 targets for individual packaging streams (especially plastic). Ireland’s response to the challenge of meeting these targets requires that the system is designed to ensure all producers play their part on a fair and equivalent basis. The regulations were the subject of a public consultation which closed at the end of October.

To assist producers impacted by the change, Repak will provide switcher assistance for 'major producers' who previously self-complied.

The regulations come into operation on 1 January 2023 and the legislation can be found on the Irish Statute Book website.

The European Union (Packaging) Regulations 2014 place some basic obligations on all producers of packaging in Ireland. This includes separating packaging waste by material type, collecting and treating packaging waste, and providing data for national statistics. The amending regulations will not change these primary obligations.

Programme for Government

The Programme for Government, published in June 2020, committed to:

• strengthen the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) model (for packaging)
• ensure the coverage of the full net costs related to the separate collection and treatment of the end-of-life products

The government end self-compliance as an option under EPR, to ensure that all producers are equitably treated and to remove potential loopholes.

Self-compliance

The principal packaging regulations place a number of additional obligations on producers who generate a certain amount of packaging. To ensure compliance with these legal obligations, 'major producers' had the option of registering with a local authority and adhering to those requirements as a self-complier. The option to 'self-comply' under local authority oversight has been removed with effect from 1 January 2023.

Repak

Repak operates the producer responsibility organisation for packaging and packaging waste under approval from the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications. You can find out more on the Repak website.

Public consultation

A public consultation ran for 6 weeks, closing on 28 October 2022. A report on the consultation and a copy of the submissions received is available on the website of the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications.