Sarah Champion warns Government on impact of recycling charges on South Yorkshire's historic glass industry
Both Rotherham and Barnsley are centres of the UK glass industry, with production tracing back centuries, however Sarah Champion fears the EPR could cost jobs.
The Rotherham MP Sarah Champion is set to launch a debate in Parliament, urging the Government to rethink its changes to recycling charges to protect jobs in South Yorkshire’s iconic glass industry.
Ms Champion will lead an adjournment debate in the House of Commons today on the impact of the packaging extended producer responsibility (EPR) on manufacturers.
This is a fee charged to packaging firms to hold them accountable for waste costs throughout an item’s lifecycle, such as glass, textiles or batteries.
This was designed to push such costs from councils and taxpayers onto producers.
However, it has hit businesses with an additional tax, while hospitality firms are double charged by both EPR and private waste removal.
In particular, Ms Champion is set to highlight the impact on the glass industry, which has higher fees as the costs are calculated by weight.
This means that it is actually cheaper for manufacturers to use less environmentally friendly plastic bottles.
Both Rotherham and Barnsley are centres of the UK glass industry, with production tracing back centuries.
Speaking ahead of the debate, Ms Champion said: “The aims of EPR may be laudable, but its design and implementation has been a catalogue of errors. It is wholly unworkable and ultimately counter-productive in its current form.
“As it stands, EPR will be bad for business, bad for growth and bad for the environment. Worst of all, it could place jobs in Rotherham at risk.
“It cannot be right that a plastic bottle should be a more cost-effective packaging choice than an infinitely recyclable glass bottle as a direct result of a government policy designed to encourage sustainable and environmentally friendly packaging choices.
“From manufacturers themselves, from brewers, pubs and from businesses across a range of sectors, I am hearing the same message.
“This is a poorly designed policy, poorly implemented, and it will cost the economy dearly. The Government should urgently rethink its approach if it is to avoid catastrophic damage to UK industry.”
Hospitality businesses, such as pubs and bars, say they are effectively being charged twice for the recycling as they already pay for private waste removal.
The Government has announced illustrative fees for next year - which indicate increases of around 30 per cent - although these have not been confirmed, leaving businesses unable to plan.
Natalie Hall, UK Spirits Alliance spokesperson and director at York Gin, added: “EPR punishes glass, despite it being recyclable.
“Whilst it was welcome that the Government lowered rates last year, spirits and other drinks businesses are still being left with uncertainty over fees for the year ahead.
“The double charging of hospitality businesses is devastating for many of the pubs and bars that we supply; they are already suffering following increases to excise duty, energy costs and a swathe of other tax rises. Something has to be done.”