A consultation has been launched to seek views on proposed changes to the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 2007.

The UK has a good record for recycling packaging and reached its targets of recovering at least 60 per cent of packaging and recycling 55 per cent by December 2008. It is thought that the targets were achieved because the obligations put the onus onto the packaging producer.

At present targets have only been set to the end of 2010, now the government wants to set business targets up to 2020 in order to improve performance further.

One of the main proposals is to increase the recycling rate to 70 per cent by 2020. Within this separate targets may be set for different types of plastics and glass.