Environment Agency arrests man over £2m packaging credit fraud. A 49-year-old man in Birmingham has been arrested for conspiracy to defraud and money laundering in connection with the unlawful sale of more than £2 million in packaging waste credits for exports suspected of never having taken place, according to the Environment Agency.
The arrest, carried out on 25 March in a dawn raid with West Midlands Police, relates to fraud within the Packaging Producer Responsibility regime. Accredited exporters and reprocessors can sell credits for packaging waste they handle, which producers must then buy to meet their recycling obligations. The Environment Agency says the investigation concerns credits sold for exports that never happened.
It is the second arrest linked to packaging credit fraud in recent weeks. In February, two individuals were arrested in Penzance as part of a separate investigation into packaging fraud worth more than £6 million. The Environment Agency has also published a 10 Point Plan to tackle waste crime, including the creation of an Operational Waste Intelligence and Analysis Unit.
Packaging firm Pact Group has invested in Plan B Circular, the UK textile-to-textile polyester recycler behind Project Re:claim, its joint venture with the Salvation Army Trading Company (SATCoL). The deal aims to scale polyester recycling ahead of EU legislation expected in 2028.
Sixteen international partners led by Danish Technological Institute have launched InFACT, a project to turn household flexible plastic waste such as crisp packets, coffee bags and meat films into new packaging, including food packaging. Less than 15 per cent of this material is currently recycled.