Packaging waste includes glass, paper, board, metals and wood. It makes up over half of our household waste and is growing in volume and weight. Because of the growing importance of packaging in the waste stream it was the first subject of "Producer Responsibility" controls by the European Union. 

The Packaging Waste Directive (94/62) came into force in 1994 with clear objectives:-

• reducing over-packaging;
• eliminating dangerous materials from packaging;
• reducing the proportion of packaging waste going to landfill;
• increasing recovery and recycling of packaging waste;
• putting the burden for recovery and recycling on the "producer"
• providing consumers with information;

Under producer responsibility the "producer" is obliged to ensure that target proportions of the materials put into the market are recycled or have value recovered from them.

In the UK Producer Responsibility Obligations (packaging waste) Regulations 1997 the "producer responsibility" is shared between 4 different sectors:

• converting raw material into packaging materials, eg oils into plastics,  6% of the total responsibility
• converting materials into packaging items, eg plastics into plastic bottles or containers,  9%
• packing or filling products into containers - eg fizzy drinks into plastic bottles, 37%
• wholesalers / retailers, 48%
  

About 5000 companies in England and Wales are affected by these controls. They must register with the appropriate agency, supply a certificate of compliance and either recover / recycle the waste packaging themselves or register with a "compliance scheme" who will do it for them. If your annual turnover is more than £2 million, or if you handle more than 50 tonnes of packaging annually then you need to contact your environment agency for information.