Financing
All participants at all levels of the packaging chain contribute proportionally to their responsibilities and obligations. Most schemes charge fees by material each quarter, for competition issues most schemes will not advertise their costs. The scale changes according to market prices of the PRNs.
Valpak operates as a not for profit organisation that is wholly accountable to its members hence Valpak distributes its operating costs through a flat annual administration charge (a one off joining fee) plus a graduated charge per tonne of net obligation. This decreases as the tonnage increases. These figures can fluctuate, depending on the total net obligation of the scheme at any one time.
To satisfy the obligations, companies (or compliance schemes) must buy a sufficient number of recovery/recycling certificates (PRNs) issued by the recovery operators. Sharing of costs with local authorities is possible under certain circumstances.
