Posted By Joanne Brookes-Wright I am due to 'inherit' responsibility for the above in 2005, and was wondering if anyone was aware of a training course on this subject? Thanks Joanne

Posted By Heather Aston Joanne The Regs are actually called the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997. The amendment regs you refer to are just the latest changes to the original regs. I've just taken over the central co-ordination of this for my company. I assume that you are not memebers of a compliance scheme? If not then the most important things are: 1. Get the various guidance notes and documents off the internet - the Environment Agency is the best place to start - read through it to make sure you understand what you have to do. 2. Read through all the documentation your company submitted last year and make sure you understand exactly what it means and how it was calculated. 3. Be aware of the impending deadlines for your 2004 submissions. You have to send your certificate of compliance for 2004 and your operational plan to the Agency by no later than 31 Jan and your application for 2005 by April. 4. Look at how your company is recording the amount of packaging used and make sure you are happy that it as accurate as it can be and nothing is being missed out. 5. Find out when you were last audited by the Agency. We were last done in 2003 and the are VERY thorough. If you have not been audited in the last two years you are (according to their own information) a priority for this year. These are probably the most complex and tedious regulations I have ever had to deal with - but once you are confident of your systems it's not too bad. Good luck! Heather