Environmental
Recent Posts
Lorax EPI's subscription service offerings
by Rachel Langhill at 19:43 in Environmental, Packaging
Lorax EPI is dedicated to simplifying global sustainability. Brand owners, retailers, manufacturers, producers and other industry professionals rely on our in-house software and international team of consultants to comply with wide-ranging stewardship obligations, keep ahead of legislation and advance their sustainability goals. One of the main ways our c...
UK Plastic Packaging Tax - where are we now?
by Annis Mapleston at 09:08 in Emerging, Packaging
Following a few months of silence, the UK government has now published more information about the plastics tax. So what do we know about it?Following the publication of draft legislation on November 12th, we now know that some things have changed from the proposal contained in the March consultation (covered in a previous blog post). Key details tha...

Global Commitment 2020 Report - How much progress has been made?
by Rachel Langhill at 19:27 in Circular Economy, Environmental, Packaging

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, in collaboration with the UN Environment Programme, launched the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment in October 2018. Signatories of the Commitment represent over one-fifth of all plastic packaging produced worldwide, and over 500 businesses, governments and industry organisations are united behind a common vision and ta...
A look inside some of Lorax EPI's recent consulting projects
by Rachel Langhill at 18:10 in Environmental, Packaging, WEEE
While many clients rely on Lorax EPI for our cloud-based EPR software to assist with legal product stewardship reporting obligations, we have been getting more and more inquiries for our environmental consulting services recently. EPR legislation differs from country to country (and sometimes province to province), making regulatory compliance a complex ...

Transposing EU legislation - what do member states need to do?
by Annis Mapleston at 13:19 in Circular Economy, Emerging, Environmental, Packaging

In the past five years, the European Commission has placed ever increasing emphasis on the need for the circularity of resources, and has published / amended a number of Directives to reflect this. In 2018, the European Council adopted the Circular Economy Package, which included amendments to the Waste Framework Directive (2018/851), the Landfill Direc...
Two new countries join the Plastics Pact network
by Rachel Langhill at 17:52 in Circular Economy, Packaging
In April 2018, the UK announced that it was establishing the world's first Plastics Pact as part of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's New Plastics Economy. The Pact is meant to bring together all key stakeholders to move towards a circular economy for plastics and plastic packaging in particular. In the last few weeks, two new national Pacts have been anno...

The Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act of 2020: What does it do exactly?
by Rachel Langhill at 17:27 in Emerging, Packaging

The Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act of 2020 was first introduced to the US House of Representatives and the Senate on 11th February as SB 3263 and HB 5845. Then on 11th June, a related bill of the same name, SB 3944, was introduced to the Senate and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.If passed, this latest bill would amend the...
Taxes, taxes, everywhere
by Annis Mapleston at 14:56 in Emerging, Environmental
2020 seems to be the year for taxes on plastic: the UK, Spain, Italy and Indonesia (to name but a few) have all published details of their plans in recent months. Now the EU has announced that it will be introducing a levy on plastic packaging. So what actually is going to be taxed, how much for, and when are they going to start?IndonesiaThe Indone...

Registering with a producer responsibility scheme - what's involved?
by Annis Mapleston at 13:11 in Environmental, Emerging, Packaging, WEEE, Battery

Countries around the world either have, or are implementing producer responsibility regulations for products including packaging, batteries, tyres, antifreeze and electronics. Obligated producers need to register either with a government agency (most often the country's Environment Agency) or a producer responsibility scheme - or both! But what's invol...
Changes to French labelling requirements
by Annis Mapleston at 12:48 in Circular Economy, Emerging, Packaging
At the beginning of 2020, France passed a comprehensive new law to amend its Environment Code (see our earlier blog for more details), which among many other things introduced new labelling requirements. Since then, a draft decree has also been published, which provides more details about what producers will need to do in future.From 2021, any packagin...

South Korea measures to reduce packaging waste
by Rachel Langhill at 18:16 in Emerging, Packaging

South Korea's amendment decree of the Rules on the Packaging Materials and Packaging Methods will come into force by 1st July 2020, affecting producers and importers of small electronics and re-packaged products. The amendment comes after consultations in January 2019 regarding 'Measures Against Overpackaging', which are part of the implementation plan ...
UK Plastics Pact and other reporting deadlines coming soon
by Rachel Langhill at 21:10 in Packaging
The UK Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP), which leads the UK Plastics Pact, is collecting data by 26th June 2020 in order to track progress towards the Pact's established 2025 targets. Target 1: Eliminate problematic or unnecessary single-use packaging items.Target 2: All plastic packaging is reusable, recyclable or compostable.Target 3: 70% ...

Plastics bans - are we going forward or backward?
by Annis Mapleston at 13:40 in Emerging, Environmental, Packaging

In recent months and years, we have seen countries around the world consider banning or taxing certain plastic products, such as bags, plates and straws (we have covered Italy, Turkey and France in recent blog posts). However, the Covid-19 pandemic has caused many to question the safety of reusable alternatives, with some bans being postponed or over...
Updates to Repak reporting guidelines
by Rachel Langhill at 20:12 in Environmental, Packaging
On 26th May 2020, Repak, Ireland's packaging EPR regime, issued some updates to its 2020 reporting guidelines for its members. Key changes are as follows: Plastic Reporting CategoriesBeginning for Half 1 2020 data, plastic reporting categories will be divided into the following sections and subsections:PlasticRecycled rigid plasticRecycled flexible plast...

Signs and symbols: what do they mean?
by Annis Mapleston at 15:08 in Packaging, Environmental

Packaging, particularly plastic packaging, is often marked with a number of labels which the consumers may believe are linked to whether or not they can be recycled. Some are mandatory, others are optional, and some countries are changing the law around recycling labelling (see our earlier blog post on some of these changes). But do you know what som...
Australia progressing towards 2025 National Packaging Targets
by Rachel Langhill at 19:58 in Environmental, Packaging
In 2018, Australia announced four new National Packaging Targets to be reached by 2025:100% reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging;70% of plastic packaging effectively recycled or composted;50% average recycled content in packaging; andPhase out problematic and unnecessary single-use plastic packaging.The Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation...
