{"id":428092,"date":"2026-05-02T04:07:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T04:07:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/428092\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T04:07:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T04:07:18","slug":"farm-plastics-group-agrees-to-waste-scheme-changes-to-ensure-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/428092\/","title":{"rendered":"Farm plastics group agrees to waste scheme changes to ensure competition"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"IFFPG said the changes would improve the scheme and ensure compliance with EU law.\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/79272b7d-4aa3-4b64-994d-8b9f30249d68.jpg\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"100%\" data-testid=\"article-image\"  \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_caption1 indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_secondary indo-66f0fec7_regular indo-1d70522a_marginbottom0 indo-1d70522a_marginleft0 indo-1d70522a_marginright0 indo-1d70522a_margintop3 indo-b48c4984_left\" style=\"color:var(--color-grey-60)\">IFFPG said the changes would improve the scheme and ensure compliance with EU law.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom0 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">The Irish Farm Film Producers\u2019 Group (IFFPG) has agreed to implement a series of changes designed to enhance transparency, promote competition and improve farmer choice within Ireland\u2019s farm plastics recycling scheme.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">These changes follow engagement between IFFPG and the European Commission\u2019s Directorate-General for Competition (DG COMP).<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC), as Ireland\u2019s national competition authority, will monitor the implementation of these and any future changes arising from that engagement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">In a statement the CCPC said following discussions with DG COMP, IFFPG proposed changes that would improve the scheme and ensure compliance with Articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union in view of competition concerns raised by market participants.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">Agreed changes include the following:<\/p>\n<p>IFFPG has removed the obligation on its members, who pay the levy in the first instance, to pass its levy down the supply chain. IFFPG members are free to decide if and how much of that cost will be passed down.\u202fIFFPG continues to require farmers to provide a label code on proof of purchase at collections in order to allow IFFPG to trace legal purchases of farm plastic.The bar code will no longer be needed as proof of full or partial payment of the levy, nor will it affect the price charged at the collection point but the label code is still required to prove legal purchase of farm plastics.IFFPG now offers authorised waste collectors the opportunity to charge less than the recommended collection charge to farmers.Farmers can continue to use whatever bring centre they like, regardless of county boundaries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">Under waste management regulations, producers and suppliers of certain farm plastics, such as silage wrapping, pit covers and netting, must ensure that the plastic waste arising from the products they place on the market is collected and recovered. IFFPG operates Ireland\u2019s national farm plastics recycling scheme through bring centres and its authorised waste collectors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">All new farm plastics placed on the Irish market carry a unique identifying code. This enables IFFPG to trace the products placed on the market by its members and allows farmers to access a lower collection fee when returning waste plastics through authorised collectors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">IFFPG applies a weight-based collection charge to farmers for the waste it collects. It also charges a levy to its members on each unit of farm plastic they place on the market. This levy, which is typically passed down the supply chain to farmers as the end customer, funds the operation of the national recycling scheme.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"IFFPG said the changes would improve the scheme and ensure compliance with EU law. The Irish Farm Film&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":428093,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[246,61,60,82],"class_list":["post-428092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}