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Producer Responsibility Obligations

The Waste Management Act 1996 clearly reflects the importance that must be attached to waste minimisation and recovery. It imposes an overarching obligation on agricultural, commercial and industrial activities to prevent or minimise the production of waste, and provides considerable regulatory powers in support of this objective. In particular, a wide range of producer responsibility obligations may be imposed in respect of individual waste streams.

As an alternative to the imposition of statutory controls and obligations, the Government's preferred approach is, in the first instance, to afford a relevant business sector an opportunity to formulate and implement proposals for an appropriate voluntary producer responsibility initiative. This approach is intended to facilitate the business sector concerned, by enabling it to bring its expertise to bear to devise workable and least-cost arrangements that are sensitive to both commercial and environmental requirements. In the absence of a satisfactory business-led initiative, it would then be open to the Minister to introduce mandatory producer responsibility obligations under the 1996 Act and/or other alternative measures. Legal obligations can also be introduced in support of voluntary producer responsibility initiatives by business

Significant producer responsibility obligations have been introduced in relation to packaging waste, end-of-life vehicles (ELVs), farm plastic waste and waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) in support of industry-led initiatives, and further such measures are under consideration.

Further information on Producer Responsibility Initiatives is provided in relation to: