Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) obligates companies to pay full net costs for collecting and recycling the packaging they place on the market. The obligations are significant and companies failing to comply could face enforcement action and sanctions. There are many problems with the roll out of EPR and companies may struggle to comprehend their costs – accruing costs without knowledge of final fees until after April each year.
Are you obligated?: Companies with a turnover of over £2m and selling more than 50 tonnes of in-scope packaging are considered Large Producers and must report and pay EPR, while Smaller Producers must only report data. Importers, including agents or UK sales offices, can be implicated and it is crucial you identify the obligated party for the produce you sell.
Key dates: The ‘assessed year’ commences on 1 April, but the payment due during that year will be based on data submitted in the previous calendar year ( ‘relevant year’) . The first set of invoices are due in October. PET, steel and aluminium drinks containers are excluded from EPR and instead will be subject to DRS, due to launch in England, NI and Scotland, in October 2027.
Fees: Final fees published by Defra are high, particularly for glass, far higher than comparable nations in Europe, and 8 times higher than in Germany. This could distort the market.
Final modulated fees will be announced after April 2026. Obligated business should note, ‘shared responsibility’ for the PRN ended in 2024, and they may see a significant increase in their obligation from 2025.
Business waste: Defra promised hospitality waste would not be subject to EPR fees; however, Defra’s current exemption process only works for direct sales sold by the glass, which must be evidenced. Sales by wholesaler or sold by the bottle will be subject to EPR fees. This could distort the market. You should calculate your exposure to these costs and understand how it may impact your business.
Recyclability Assessment Methodology: In year 2 of EPR, fees will be modulated, with packaging that is less recyclable incurring higher fees. Obligated businesses must also urgently assess their packaging against the Recycling Assessment Methodology (RAM), based on packaging sold the previous year. ‘Starting from the 2026/27 financial year, the policy will apply escalating modulation factors of 1.2x, 1.6x, and 2.0x over consecutive years’. Packaging classed as RED will attract the most punitive fees.
If you are an obligated producer, you will need to submit data to the Report Packaging Data (RPD) service. You can check if you are obligated via Defra’s guidance. If you have not done so please comply as a priority. You can either do this yourself or employ a Compliance Scheme to help.
Not all businesses are obligated. There are thresholds, determined by the tonnage of packaging supplied to the UK market (this includes filled and unfilled packaging imported, and discarded by the importer), and business turnover.
The table below shows when an organisation is obligated as a small producer, or a large producer, or not obligated at all.
Producers will be invoiced in October and the invoice for that year will cover the previous period from 1 April to 31 March. Payment for that invoice can either be made in full for that year on receipt of the invoice, but producers also have the option to set up quarterly payments to cover the invoice for in the portal (RPD).
Under the EPR regulations, the first direct debit payment will not be collected until at least 45 days after the date of the invoice.
Producers will have the ability to make payments via quarterly instalments and in year 1 of the operation we would expect these to be during November, January, April and June, but in subsequent years they would be August, November, February and May.
Where required, specific arrangements may be considered via the financial service provider who will be managing the debt collection on behalf of the scheme administrator.
“Note that the calculation of the recycling obligation is based on the fees incurred to provide evidence of recycling in a relevant year and not an assessment year. Therefore, the costs would be incurred during each relevant year – for example, for 2025 it is based on the tonnes of packaging supplied in each waste category in 2024 and the recycling percentage specified in the legislation for 2025 as a percentage of 2024 volumes, provided that the entity is still a producer in the relevant year (2025)”. Please refer to PwC’s briefing for more detail.
The WSTA, alongside other drinks Trade Associations, has been working on improving the non-household (NH) exemption process for business waste.
We are waiting on Defra and the Regulator to offer their solutions.
We support efforts to introduce a PRO to take control of EPR fees, payments, labelling, collection system design, auditing and communications. The most successful schemes give obligated industry control of these aspects to ensure the system runs smoothly and to keep industry accountable. We expect the PRO to be appointed this Spring.
DRS in England, Northern Ireland and Scotland is planned to start in October 2027, and covers PET and metal drinks containers. You will have obligations if you are a producer or importer of these containers, or if you sell them to consumers (e.g. you may have to offer a return point in your store). Glass is not included in DRS in these nations. To find out more please visit Exchange for Change. https://exchangeforchange.co.uk/
Wales exited the UK DRS joint agreement and will now design their own DRS which will include glass, and potentially a re-use scheme in the future. The WSTA opposes this decision as it undermines UK trade, loses economies of scale and is not backed by sufficient evidence. A unique Welsh scheme will require unique labelling, and separation of Welsh produce. This this will be impractical, costly and could limit supply to Wales, particularly from SME’s and importers. The current plans in Wales are unfunded and urgently need to be revisited.
There is a lot more information available regarding EPR, DRS and the Collection and Packaging Reforms. Please get in touch with Freddie if you have any queries or need more information.
