Companies and individuals emptying any sort of packaging inevitably produce waste packaging in one form or another – or do they? The Environment Agency has confirmed that a series of questions need to be considered when handling empty, uncleaned packaging. These include, but are not limited to:

•  Is the packaging waste?

•  Is the packaging empty?

•  Are residues hazardous?

The answer to question 1 is critical – if the answer is ‘no’, then any remaining questions may not be relevant to waste legislation controls.

However – answering question 1 is far from simple and defining ‘waste’ (though not specifically industrial packaging waste) has indeed been the subject of a number of legal cases all the way to the UK Supreme and even the European courts.

Industrial packaging has been repeatedly reused, on an international scale, for hundreds of years – since the days when casks and wooden barrels were carried by galleons trading all manner of goods between continents. This enduring ability for global reuse has ensured that industrial packaging has been one of the most environmentally friendly and sustainable methods for handling raw materials.

Today’s modern manufacturing methods and packaging materials have ensured improved safety for an ever widening range of sensitive, technical ly advanced products and raw materials, and ensured a continued ability for repeated reuse of the packaging. 

The industrial packaging sector has a worldwide infrastructure for collection, reconditioning and reuse, working with ISO standardised designs and international regulations, allowing industrial packaging to be repeatedly reconditioned, tested and certified for use even with Dangerous Goods. Today’s range of industrial packaging can be truly seen as one of the most efficient forms of packaging ever available.

This international infrastructure and regulatory framework, enabling repeated reuse of industrial packaging, should be applauded by our national environmental authorities. However, we need to establish a clear understanding of when reusable packaging is considered to be waste and when it is not.

The new ISO Standards on Packaging and Environment have deliberately avoided use of the word ‘waste’ as it is widely agreed amongst environmental experts that, wherever possible, we should see used packaging as a resource to be maintained and valued, rather than discarded. 

Reuse

It is agreed that reuse is much more environmentally and energy efficient than recycling (ie; materials destruction for scrap) or recovery (eg; incineration for energy release) and should be encouraged wherever possible. After all, when we have used a glass or cup for a drink, we wouldn’t dream of smashing it for recycling – we simply wash, dry and store it for reuse many more times. The glass or cup would only go into the recycling bin once it has suffered damage and is no longer safe or fit for purpose.

The UK Environment Agency has agreed that empty used drums and IBCs may not be classed as waste if they are reusable, in a suitable condition for reuse (ie; still fit-for-purpose), properly emptied and sent for reuse. Cleaning of the used packaging is still permitted under the ‘non-waste’ classification, so long as it is only a ‘simple clean’ and not requiring a more extensive reconditioning process.

It is this last point that creates concern, as how do we define ‘a simple clean’ – where do the boundaries lie between washing a drum with light, non-hazardous residues, such as food products or mild detergents, and the more difficult, higher viscosity products such as oils and resins? There is such an incredible permutation of millions of products carried in kegs, drums and IBCs that it is almost impossible to define what requires a ‘simple clean’ and what requires more vigorous treatment.

The IPA and the EA agree that empty, uncleaned packaging that has contained (and has residues of) hazardous materials, should not be included within the principles of requiring only a ‘simple clean’; the handling of such products requires a professional degree of control and expertise to ensure the safety both of human health and the environment.  

The UK Environment Agency has advised that, where there is a requirement for more controlled handling and extensive cleaning / reconditioning processeses, this packaging would be considered to be undergoing ‘preparation for reuse’ which would mean the used packaging is classed as a waste item. 

However, whilst the difference in handling non-hazardous and hazardous residues is understood, we do have to be careful not to discrimiate between the packaging types, which require differing process methods to aid their reuse.

For example; a steel drum that has used a protective inner liner, which is removed following emptying, will be clean and free of residue. Suppose this drum is sent for reuse via a reconditioner and requires very little cleaning, but the new user prefers a different colour (requiring shotblasting and repainting), would this additional processing mean that the packaging should be considered waste?

It would make good sense that any properly emptied used packaging that is both suitable for reuse and intended for reuse, should not be defined as a waste item, unless it has contained hazardous materials that require specialist handling by a properly permitted reconditioner. Where the packaging is no longer fit-for-purpose and requires repair, remanufacture or recycling, it would also come into the category of waste.