The object of this paper is to address the role of competition in securing a more efficient and effective collection, sorting and recovery of waste streams such as WEEE, packaging, batteries and so on, so as to improve the competitive position of firms and business that need to pay for such services, while at the same time meeting binding EU environmental targets. Success should not only contribute to the success of such firms through lower input costs but also generate extra jobs and investment. The vehicle through which collection, sorting and recovery of waste takes place is a producer responsibility organisation or PRO. It acts on behalf of individual firms in the collection, sorting and recovering waste as well as meeting the targets and in return the PRO charges a membership fee based on tonnage of waste. In most markets more competition is associated, albeit crudely, with the number of providers. Hence, as a first approximation, it could be argued more PROs should lead to more competition. Environmental targets are met with lower costs of collection, sorting and recovery. A win-win situation. We consider this view to be mistaken. This conclusion was reached only after a careful examination of the economics of the supply of collection, sorting and recovery services supplied through a PRO. It is unlikely that licensing more PROs with a national remit will lead to better outcomes in terms of cost. Instead, costs are likely to be higher while the increased difficulty of monitoring the PROs is likely to make reaching the targets more difficult. This does not mean that competition cannot be used to create lower collection, sorting and recovery costs, through, for example, tendering. When market conditions suggest that only one national PRO is appropriate then competition for the market is appropriate. Where market conditions suggest that multiple exclusive geographic markets, usually two, are appropriate, then competition is possible. What needs to be done is create mechanisms to ensure competition takes place, while at the same time retaining the advantages of having a single firm responsible for meeting targets as well as responsibility for collection, sorting and recovery.