🌱 The Extended Polluter Responsibility (EPR) scheme - what is it, and when are the key dates?
Featuring Maje, Elephant Gin, Neutral Foods and more...
Happy Monday!
This week we cover:
Extended Polluter Responsibility (EPR) scheme - what is it, and when are the key dates?
How Maje are working with Fairly Made to deliver traceability in ‘the era of fast-fashion’.
In case you missed it: 🌱 Circular Partnerships and the Plastic Packaging Tax. Ready? Featuring Elvis & Kresse, The Collective UK, Seedlip and more...
> Good News Last Week
🎯 Elephant Gin announced the launch of their Elephant Gin Foundation. By donating 15% of all their bottle profits, they’ve now raised over €1 million. The Elephant Gin Foundation is a non-profit grant making foundation with the goal of protecting African wildlife.
🎯 Arbikie Distillery announced they’re planning to be the ‘first’ green hydrogen-powered distillery, after they’ve secured planning permission to build a 1 MW wind turbine on their Scottish farm which will allow the production of the fuel.
⭐️ Neutral Foods announced its closed a $12 million Series A round, led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures. The carbon neutral dairy company plans to double the number of retailers that carry its milk by the end of the year, and in doing so expand the number of farmers it’s working with too.
⭐️ Selfridges announced they’re targeting 45% of all sales across stores and online to be from circular products, practices and services by 2030. This falls into its ‘Project Earth’ sustainability strategy launched two years ago.
⭐️ Sainsbury’s announced changes to its date labels on packaging for 276 own brand products, in a bid to help reduce food waste. ‘Best Before’ dates will start to be removed from the end of August. This could help save an estimated 17 million products from being wasted every year.
⭐️ Diageo committed £450,000 towards innovations that ‘combat environmental degradation and improve sustainable practices’ for smallholder farms in Africa, in a newly announced pilot. They’re calling for companies with relevant solutions to apply before 7th October. If successful, the pilots will be rolled out across Diageo’s smallholder farmer network across Cameroon, Ghana, India, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Tanzania, Turkey, the Seychelles, South Africa and Uganda.
⭐️ About You, Yoox Net-a-Porter and Zalando have teamed up to launch an online learning platform to support their brand partners in setting science-based emissions reductions targets. Each brand has already set their own reduction targets via Science Based Targets initiative, and now they’re aiming to reduce carbon emissions within their value chain too.
> Click on each link to read more. Have good news about your brand that you’re keen to share? Email us - info@followingthefootprints.com.
> Quick Take
Extended Polluter Responsibility (EPR) scheme - what is it, and when are the key dates?
Extended Polluter Responsibility (EPR) is a scheme whereby the responsibility of the full cost of managing packaging waste is moved from the taxpayers and councils to the packaging producers. It aims to incentivise businesses to reduce packaging and/or choose packaging that is easier to recycle - in line with goals to protect our climate, drive green growth, and reduce unnecessary waste.
Hot off findings from Surfers Against Sewage that a dozen companies are responsible for 70% of the branded packaging pollution found on UK beaches (learn more here), the heat on brands to be responsible for their own waste is being turned up.
What has been decided, by who, and who will it affect?
Announced this year, the EPR scheme is to be phased in from 2024 when it will be passed into law. DEFRA held two consultations (2019 and 2021) and the final decisions were brought into effect earlier this year.
It will be focused on household packaging waste and packaging in street bins managed by Local Authorities. Commercial & industrial packaging waste will not be included in the EPR system.
Which businesses will it affect, and how?
Companies with over £2 million turnover and 50 tonnes of packaging handled per annum will be obligated to report and pay.
Companies with £1 million turnover and 25 tonnes of packaging will have to report, but not pay.
Just in case there was any ambiguity or wiggle room:
Businesses that put goods into packaging and place them on the markets in their name…
OR businesses who are responsible for the import or filled packaging into the UK…
OR businesses who sell any filled packaging to the end user…
…are all legally obligated to pay and report in the EPR. In short, if you are a physical product brand, the EPR scheme will affect you.
How will brands report, and what are the costs?
Here’s a breakdown of key timings, which you can also view in our diagram above:
2023 - Companies will have to report on packaging by material category (and fees calculated apportioning disposal costs of each with un-recyclable or difficult to recycle packaging being charged higher). If you’re affected by the new extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging, you must take steps to collect the correct packaging data from 1 January 2023.
2024 - Recycling assessments will be rolled out, and businesses will have to report twice annually and nation-specific reporting requirements will apply to all types of packaging, including transport and delivery packaging.
2025 - Modulated fees based on packaging recyclability will commence.
This follows on from the current Plastic Packaging Tax which we (brands) are already having to pay, as well as the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations (PRNs). New to these? We’ll dig into them another week.
Overall, there will be significantly more detailed packaging data required. Official costs for businesses have yet to be identified, but the overall cost to packaging producers is estimated at £1.7 billion. Because the EPR will be focused on household packaging waste & street bins, the system will require producers to cover the costs of managing packaging likely to be disposed of in street bins, and the cost of communications activities aimed at preventing packaging from being littered.
What about Packaging Labelling?
This is important. A single mandatory recycling labelling scheme will be introduced from 2024 (see image) & this will be mandatory on all packaging types (except plastic films or flexible plastics) from 31 March 2026.
By 31 March 2027 recyclable plastic films and flexible packaging will be collected from both households and businesses for recycling across the UK (that is the good news part, albeit about five years too late).
Looking for more information? Head here…
Packaging waste: prepare for extended producer responsibility
‘Law on extended producer responsibility a major step in tackling plastic waste’
> Brand Spotlight
How Maje are working with Fairly Made to deliver traceability in ‘the era of fast-fashion’.
Founded in 1998, Maje is a Parisian fashion company with truly global supply chains. 20 years later, in 2018, they developed their ‘Dream Tomorrow’ mantra - looking to the next 20 years with a goal of limiting their environmental impact. How? By rethinking the materials they use, changing transport & logistics practices and managing the entire life cycle of each product - Maje’s approach might be gradual, but they’ve already made a significant impact. Let’s take a look at how.
The Dream Tomorrow Collection
Exploring the traceability and environmental impact of a product has never been easier. Maje’s Dream Tomorrow collection of ‘eco-friendly’ pieces, each have an easy-to-explore map of the product’s life cycle, using framework ISO14040/44. Maje defines eco-friendly products as ‘having 50% of their composition actually certified as eco-friendly’. This includes natural, organic, biodegradable, recycled or up-cycled materials, manufacturing conditions which produce less pollution, the elimination or limitation of toxic products, reduction of carbon footprint, local production, zero waste design or products made to last. With a widespread lack of regulation around what counts as ‘eco-friendly’ in the fashion industry today (read more here), applying this definition to their products is a step in the right direction.
Maje got the memo: setting reduction targets, and reporting on progress.
In 2018, Maje launched a ‘major systemic review’ of their carbon footprint to identify carbon emissions and produce an all important reduction plan. Over summer four years later, they’ve detailed the progress they’ve made so far:
Single use plastic: Maje eliminated single-use plastic in Summer 2022, instead creating recyclable shopping bags without plastic lamination and from FSC certified wood sources. In-store hangers are now made from FSC certified wood, however, alternatives for the plastic hangers in the warehouse are still on the agenda.
Travel: With trains emitting 578g less CO2 per tonne than planes, and boats emitting 567g less CO2 than planes, reducing dependency on planes is at the forefront of Maje’s mission. In 2021, they used 52% air transport, 27% maritime, 19% road and 1% rail.
Fabric forecasting: Better forecasting for fabrics reduces waste through ensuring that only what is needed is purchased. Any excess is donated to charities and schools.
Waste management: Maje’s new waste management partnership with Parisian company Cèdre enables stronger credibility and transparency around their recycled waste. With their HQ located in Paris, this has localised how Maje’s waste is dealt with. As a result, Maje’s HQ has been granted the High Quality Environment Standard (HQE) label with Level 3 (“excellent”).
Recycled Retail: Over-time Maje has developed their concept stores to favour vintage furniture, LED lighting, less water intensive air conditioning units and adaptive workspaces.
Rental: Their online rental service for pieces from old and new collections is a key pillar of of Maje’s commitment to responsible fashion.
Partnering with Fairly Made to offer better transparency
By working with Fairly Made, Maje products (including their supply chains) have been evaluated and disclosed on their website - allowing customers to see their impact from the source. Tracking the full journey from source materials to manufacturing is part of Fairly Made’s mission to improve the impact of the fashion industry. Maje is making the most of their tracking tool by disclosing:
Raw material: Each material is listed from origin and can be selected to follow the individual life-cycle through factories and stages of production, such as spinning, dying, weaving, finishing the raw materials before manufacture of the garment.
Factory certification: Following the stages of production to each factory, the country is identified as well as the factory certifications. Explanations identifies what each certification guarantees. From protection of health, % recycled fibres, environmental and social criteria upheld or environmental management systems.
Transportation: The transportation method and distance travelled for each stage of the production process is included, with a total calculator. In total, Maje imports 59% of products by boat and 11% by train, as part of their approach to more sustainable logistics practices.
Recyclability: To maximise the recyclability of each garment at the end of its life, the method of recyclability has been individually identified. Instructions include a ‘how-to;’’ on removing metal elements, recyclability methods via fraying or shredding and possible uses such as insulation or geotextiles.
Resource depletion: Maje even calculates the CO2 equivalent contribution of the product to global warming, the phosphore equivalent of freshwater eutrophication which can lead to the suffocation of lakes and rivers, and total depletion of non-renewable energy resources, including coal, gas and oil.
Traceability score: Each product is ranked out of 5 for traceability, with identified suppliers and verified certification producing a higher score than products with unidentified suppliers.
Not stopping there, Maje also focuses on ‘People’, alongside ‘Planet’ (although are the two ever truly distinct?). Donating clothes to The Red Cross to support the reintegration of women in the workplace, and using fabric stocks to supply healthcare workers with comfortable clothing (alongside 23,000 mob caps and 27,000 washable UNS1 masks) is just one example. By supporting Doctors without Borders, Maje has donated profits to two projects:
A paediatric unit in Lebanon where free emergency treatment is provided to children aged 28 days to 15 years, of any nationality.
An oncology programme in Mali, designed to improve access to care for women suffering from cervical and breast cancer.
Maje is currently undertaking another review of their carbon footprint to see where the next steps for impact can be made. In the meantime, they’re leading the way for other fashion companies to follow suit by showing that transparency can be achieved in the current “era of fast fashion”.
Support Maje via their shop:
> In case you missed it
> Follow up with…
Event: 9th September - WTW Climate and Sustainability Roundtable Invitation
Event: 12th September - Defining waste: how does waste impact the environment and what can we do to reduce it?