ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the functions of New Environmental Policy Instruments (NEPIs) in the United Kingdom (UK) and Germany in order to assess their impact on policy outcomes in the two countries. There is, nevertheless, general agreement that design defects in the UK Packaging Regulations have significantly hampered Britain's efforts to achieve the recovery and recycling targets set by the Packaging Waste Directive. The chapter assesses the use of negotiated agreements to establish producer responsibility and industry-led recycling schemes. Following this, the hypothecation of recycling charges to encourage expansion in the reprocessing sector is reviewed. Although the UK and German recycling schemes are both ostensibly industry-led, a significant proportion of packaging waste ultimately comes from household waste and systems for its retrieval must be developed. The most novel aspect of the British recycling system and its point of greatest divergence from the German model was the decision to introduce tradable Packaging Recovery Notes (PRNs) for packaging waste.
