Appraisal of Policy Options for British Glass

This study involved an appraisal of three policy options that are currently being assessed for packaging and that are collectively known by Defra as ‘the collection and packaging reforms’, namely:

  • The introduction of consistent collections for municipal solid waste in England;

  • The reform of the UK packaging producer responsibility scheme; and;

  • The introduction of a deposit return scheme (DRS) for beverage packaging for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The study included a detailed appraisal of the consultation and impact assessment documents and ‘The Collection and Packaging Reforms – a summary of the impacts’ report Defra has produced for the three alternative policies. Figure 1 provides a summary of the costs, benefits and Net Present Value (NPV) for each reform, presented in the Defra summary of impacts report [1]. This shows that the All-in DRS is projected to realise £6,091 million of the total £9,132 million NPV from the three reforms, consistent collections £2,766 million and EPR £275 million.

[1] All figures are discounted to a 2020 Present Value and are in 2019 prices.

Oakdene Hollins