Environmental guidance for your business in Northern Ireland & Scotland
You must comply with packaging regulations if your business manufactures, fills, supplies or handles packaging or packaging materials.
How you design, use and dispose of packaging can affect both your income and the environment. Although the amount of used packaging being recycled is increasing, businesses can do more to use less packaging, lower costs and reduce waste.
You should keep the packaging you use to a minimum and design your packaging so that it is easy to reuse and recycle. This helps to minimise the amount of packaging waste you and other parts of your supply chain have to dispose of.
Efficient use of packaging can benefit your business through reduced costs, a better relationship with stakeholders and customers, and new sales and marketing opportunities.
This guideline describes how to comply with the main packaging environmental legislation: the Packaging (Essential Requirements) Regulations 2015, and the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations, as amended. The Packaging Essential Requirements Regulations cover design and manufacturing aspects of packaging in the EU market, while the Producer Responsibility Obligations cover recycling and recovery.
SEPA Special Waste Consignment Notes – updated position, The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) is now accepting special waste consignment notes (SWCNs) by email only.
DAERA Waste Policy Tracker, The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs has published a Waste policy tracker to stay informed of waste policy developments.
View our latest videos & subscribe to our channel.
Free monthly email newsletter with environmental updates for Northern Ireland and Scotland