Causeway Coast and Glens Council approve funding for waste specialist

At an Environmental Services Committee meeting on Wednesday, April 17, officers sought member approval to “recruit a shared waste specialist to deal with the implications of the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging scheme, representing and assisting district councils and NILGA on national forums with regard to policy development for EPR”.

An officers’ report stated: “Producer responsibility is a concept used widely within the waste regulation sector aimed at ensuring that businesses that manufacture, import and sell products onto the open market are responsible for their end of life environmental Impact.

“The regulations require businesses to minimise waste arising from these products and promote their reuse. The current producer responsibility system for packaging has been in operation since 1997 however it has not covered the full costs of recovering / disposing of packaging waste.

“The new EPR scheme will move the cost of dealing with packaging waste away from the taxpayer and on to packaging producers, who will pay for the full cost of managing packaging waste from households.

“Through the fees they pay to councils, producers will be incentivised to use less packaging, to use packaging that can be recycled, and to meet higher recycling targets."

The committee was then asked to provide funding to support the appointment of a specialist to represent all of Northern Ireland’s district councils and related national meetings of local government.

The Environmental Services Committee accepted the recommendation.