Pressure on firms to improve packaging recycling rates is to heat up after the Defra today announced higher waste recovery and recycling targets for the next three years.

The new overall waste recovery targets will require all producers of packaging, including manufacturers, packaging fillers and retailers, to ensure 72 per cent of waste is recovered this year, 73 per cent is recovered in 2009 and 74 per cent in 2010.

The government said the targets would help it ensure that the UK meets its obligation under the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste directive to ensure 60 per cent of packaging waste will be recycled. It also estimated that the higher targets will cut carbon emissions by 8 million tonnes this year alone, with a further 258,097 tonnes of CO2 saved in 2009 and an additional 285,436 tonnes in 2010.

Under the directive targets vary by sector, with the glass industry having to attain recycling rates of 67.5 per cent this year, while 26 per cent of plastic packaging produced must be recycled.

All producers handling more than 50 tonnes of packaging or boasting more than £2m a year in revenue will have to meet the targets. They can do this by either submitting evidence that their own recovery and recycling schemes meet the target or signing up to a compliance scheme whereby firms buy credits or packaging recovery notes (PRNs) from accredited recyclers to cover their recycling obligation. Firms that fail to meet their obligations are liable to be fined.

Rebecca Cocking, recycling manager at the British Glass Manufacturers' Federation, welcomed the move claiming the publication of the targets should help both recyclers and producers plan ahead. "In the past some of the targets have been left a little late and the cost of PRNs has dropped as producers have waited to find out what the new targets are before buying them," she said. " With the targets in place the price is likely to remain constant, which should help the momentum in the market continue."

However, she voiced concerns over local authorities' ability to deliver the collection facilities required to meet the higher targets. "The new targets are attainable, but the problem is you are relying on local authorities to do the collection, which means part of the process is out of the producers' hands," she explained. "In the glass sector a lot of the material collected at the moment by the local authorities is low grade mixed waste that is not that good for remelting."

Concerns over the viability of the government's initial targets were also voiced during the recent consultation period for the new legislation, prompting Defra to today announce lower targets than originally expected for aluminium and glass recycling in 2008.

The department also said it was committed to tackling the problem of low aluminium recycling rates, announcing that it will begin working with industry, Local Authorities and recycling advisory group WRAP to improve collection and sorting arrangements, particularly for beverage cans in the household and on-street waste streams.