Silage wrap no longer included in agriculture packaging tax

This recent news has been welcomed by the Ulster Farmers’ Union.

UFU deputy president, David Brown, commented: “We recently wrote a letter to the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, Helen Whatley, ahead of the Westminster Hall debate on 18 January, highlighting our concerns about silage wrap being included in plastic packaging tax for agriculture.

“This included how a tax of £200 tonne on all single use plastic packaging would increase costs for farmers and that they would end up being taxed twice in addition to the voluntary £60/tonne levy.

“This extra expense would put farmers under further financial pressure as they are already dealing with increasing production costs.

“We also outlined the positive success so far of the Agriculture Plastics Environment scheme with the voluntary levy increasing to £60 tonne for 2022, and that due to the technical complexity of silage stretch films, it’s not possible to manufacture it in commercial quantities with a 30 per cent recycled content to prevent the tax being applied.

“We’re glad that our concerns were taken on board and that HMRC have now decided to exclude silage wrap from agriculture packaging tax from the beginning of April.

“The primary purpose of silage wrap is to ferment grass rather than serve as a packaging function and the UFU encourage farmers to dispose of all silage wrap and plastic packing responsibly.

“For instance, through the UFU affinity deal with emerald isle recycling,” Mr Brown ended.