Ms Claire Downey:

The model of producer responsibility schemes, involving the collection of funds, usually at the point of sale. The channelling of those funds into infrastructure and services, has always been based around meeting recycling targets. Typically, for electrical goods or packaging waste, it involves investing in packaging recycling infrastructure to support and subsidise that activity. To date, certainly in Europe, no EPR scheme has been set up expressly to support reuse. EPR schemes tend to operate only inside the waste regime, dealing with the waste, whereas the consumer durables we are talking about are not defined as waste. There are some challenges in seeing how that model can adapt to non-waste activities, which would mean second-hand sales through existing social enterprises and others working in second-hand goods, repair and so on.

The way in which social enterprises can be supported through EPR schemes is twofold. First, they can have priority access to the materials that are collected. For example, social enterprises can have priority access to reuse of products collected at civic amenity sites. The second means of support is in decision-making about how EPR schemes are run and structured and how, for instance, eco-modulation works to ensure social enterprises are involved in and can influence that decision-making. Those issues are really important as we look ahead to new schemes. Fundamentally, we need to see how we can design an EPR scheme that will support non-waste reuse activities in an existing thriving sector. As has been described, textiles are already being reused through our existing charity retail network and other operators. It is really important that any new measure does not disrupt that really good activity. It must support it.