Results of PRN investigation << Back to Main News Page Added: Wednesday, 6 October 2004 Government investigations have revealed that some reprocessors and exporters of plastic packaging waste have been failing to meet Government requirements on recycling. The investigation has shown that reprocessors and exporters have been incorrectly issuing Packaging Waste Recovery Notes (PRNs) and Packaging Waste Export Recovery Notes (PERNs) - during 2002 and 2003 which has made it appear that they were recycling more plastic packaging waste than they were. In a small number of cases the police have been notified and investigations are currently underway. As a result of the investigation and taking into consideration the Agency’s monitoring work, the figures for plastic packaging waste figures in 2002 will be reduced by 34,790 tonnes. Figures for 2003 will be reduced by 80,885 tonnes, meaning that the amount of packaging waste recycled in 2002 is now 360,418 (or 20.7%) and 321,205 in 2003 (or 17.9%). However the Environment Agency have indicated that these figures could be subject to further revision as a result of ongoing police investigations and Agency monitoring. The reductions not only affect the amount of plastic packaging waste recycled, but also the total amount of recovery and recycling achieved in the UK in 2002 and 2003. Environment Minister Elliott Morely said “I am extremely disappointed that a number of reprocessors have been operating inappropriately…our aim must now be to improve the current system and make it more difficult for companies to inappropriately issue PRNs.” The fact finding mission report has been released on the Defra website: www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/topics/packaging/index.htm