Greg Smith

No. The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024 came into effect on 1 January 2025, PackUK, the Scheme Administrator has been appointed, and producers will start to accrue scheme costs from 1 April 2025.

The scheme treats domestic manufacturing and import equally, with all packaging and packaged products, whether manufactured and supplied domestically or imported into UK, subject to the obligations in the Extended Producer Responsibility Regulations.

Similarly, any packaging or packaged goods manufactured in the UK and exported will not be in scope of the UK Regulations but may be in scope of the Extended Producer Responsibility regime in the country the packaging or packaged goods are being exported to.

The Government consulted on the principles, objectives, and proposals for extended producer responsibility in 2019 and 2021, and these received high levels of support. This followed initial lobbying in 2018 from the sector, which preferred extended producer responsibility, in which funds are invested back into the sector, to other fiscal measures such as a non-hypothecated tax.

From 2028, the pEPR scheme administrator, PackUK, must assess whether each local authority is running an effective waste management service for household packaging waste. If PackUK determines that a local authority is not providing an effective waste management service, they are able to give notice to the local authority, work with them to determine how the services could be improved, and where necessary reduce the payments available to them in the following year by up to 20%. In relation to cost efficiency, local authorities will receive payments representing their estimated efficient costs.

Defra officials are working closely with the Environment Agency (EA) and Devolved Governments to ensure robust plans are in place to both scrutinise the accuracy of submissions from enrolled producers, and identify and bring into compliance free riders who have not yet enrolled or reported their data. This is being supported by more than doubling the number of compliance officers. We are also encouraging compliant producers to report producers they suspect of being non-compliant to the appropriate regulator. The new pEPR regulations also significantly enhanced the potential penalties for non-compliance. This will give the EA the ability to secure compliance and to take swift and proportionate enforcement action with powers, including warnings, cautions, civil sanctions, and prosecution. In addition to regulator enforcement, PackUK, the new Scheme Administrator, also has the power to invoice producers for fees in the years in which they were non-compliant.

The aim of pEPR is to ensure businesses - rather than taxpayers - are responsible for the cost of dealing with packaging when it becomes waste. These regulations will encourage manufacturers to reduce the amount of packaging they use and increase recyclable and reusable alternatives. It is up to individual producers to decide how much of these costs are passed on to consumers. While pricing decisions by producers will differ by product, the impact of pEPR on overall inflation is estimated to be small, increasing consumer costs by less than £1 a week per household, or 0.1%.

The Government wants to see all businesses take steps to reduce packaging use, ensure packaging is easy to recycle, and where appropriate move to re-use systems. However, the Government also recognises the importance of protecting small producers from direct cost obligations. This is why the regulations include a de-minimis threshold of £2 million turnover and 50 tonnes which exempts approximately 70% of the UK's smaller producers from paying scheme fees.

The Government wants to see all businesses take steps to reduce packaging use, ensure packaging is easy to recycle, and where appropriate move to re-use systems. However, the pEPR scheme includes generous exemptions to reduce the burden on small producers. Producers with an annual turnover of less than £2 million and 50 tonnes of packaging supplied will be exempt from pEPR payments but will be required to report packaging data. Producers supplying less than 25 tonnes and that have less than £1 million turnover will have no reporting or disposal cost obligations.

The Government consulted on the principles of extended producer responsibility in 2019 and 2021, including the principle that producers would cover the full net costs to local authorities of managing household packaging waste. This included an estimate of the total costs of the scheme. In accordance with this principle, disposal fees per tonne for each material category are determined by dividing the total efficient cost to LAs by the total amount of household packaging placed on the market.

The Scheme Administrator, PackUK, is required to set base fees in line with the regulations, which were developed by the previous Government following extensive engagement and consultation with stakeholders. Since the publication of the first illustrative base fees my department has continued to engage extensively with stakeholders, including through material specific workshops and the Scheme Administrator Steering Group (SASG) comprised of stakeholders across the sector. Most recently my department published a third set of illustrative base fees in December 24, which provided point estimates in direct response to industry feedback

Through making producers responsible for the costs of managing the packaging they use; packaging extended producer responsibility will incentivise producers to use less packaging and transition to re-usable or easy-to-recycle packaging. Defra have not identified any evidence that pEPR will lead to reduced consumer choice or product availability, including through assessment of international schemes.

We have previously published additional guidance to accompany any release of updated base fee amounts which provides a more detailed breakdown of fee calculations for each material and the data involved. Similar accompanying information will be provided alongside upcoming local authority payment notifications in April 2025 and the fee amounts for 2025-2026 in June 2025.

Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging (pEPR) requires producers to bear the end-of-life costs associated with packaging that they place on the market, rather than the proportion of recycled materials contained. Officials have been working with stakeholders, including representatives from the hospitality sector, to consider potential future amendments to the definition of household packaging. The use of reusable/refillable packaging is encouraged under pEPR, as producers are only required to report and pay disposal cost fees for household packaging the first time it is placed on the market.

The potential implications of Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging (pEPR) fees on the recyclable nature of glass packaging have been considered within the framework of the scheme, particularly through the mechanism of fee modulation. Modulation of pEPR fees from year two of the scheme will result in lower fees for more sustainable packaging and higher fees for less sustainable packaging.

Following the passage of the legislation introducing extended producer responsibility for packaging (pEPR) through parliament, the government has been working closely with industry, including the glass sector, to understand the impact of the upcoming fees on business as the scheme is implemented. To date we have had little evidence presented that pEPR fees cannot be afforded.

We are encouraging the glass industry to seek to reduce the cost impacts of pEPR through a transition to reuse and refill, something that used to be commonplace in the UK and continues to be in many other countries. The use of reusable/refillable packaging is encouraged under pEPR, as producers are only required to report and pay disposal cost fees for household packaging the first time it is placed on the market, and can then offset these fees when they recycle this packaging at then end of its life, thereby avoiding the vast majority of pEPR fees.

A full assessment of the impact of Extended Producer Responsibility was completed in 2024 and is published on legislation.gov.uk.

The Department announced on 4th March that it would be providing an additional £33 million for the Rural England Prosperity Fund in financial year 2025-26. This announcement continues funding beyond the lifetime of the original scheme providing new money for new projects in rural areas.

The Autumn Statement on 30 October confirmed Defra’s budgets for 2024-25 and 2025-26. Funding allocations for individual programmes have been determined through the departments business planning exercise. Future funding decisions remain subject to the Government spending review.

The Department announced on 4th March that it would be providing an additional £33 million for the Rural England Prosperity Fund in financial year 2025-26. This announcement continues funding beyond the lifetime of the original scheme providing new money for new projects in rural areas.

The Autumn Statement on 30 October confirmed Defra’s budgets for 2024-25 and 2025-26. Funding allocations for individual programmes have been determined through the departments business planning exercise. Future funding decisions remain subject to the Government spending review.

The Government is committed to implementing its obligations under the Windsor Framework in good faith, including commitments on the use of 'Not for EU labels', as well as taking all steps necessary to protect the UK internal market. As per guidance published on GOV.UK, from 1 October 2024 milk and dairy products moving under the Northern Ireland Retail Movement Scheme will need to be individually labelled.

The previous Government held a consultation on extending the ‘not for EU’ labelling requirements across Great Britain earlier this year and this, as well as further discussion with business, will inform our future approach.