Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure that the extended producer responsibility scheme does not reduce investment in UK manufacturing.

Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging (pEPR) is designed to move the cost of managing household packaging waste from taxpayers to producers, while supporting investment in recycling.

Defra and PackUK continue to engage with industry, including packaging manufacturers, to monitor implementation and operational impacts of the scheme.

Industry estimates the Collection and Packaging Reforms, including pEPR, will create 25,000 jobs and underpin £10 billion of investment in the UK’s recycling capacity. [Source Environmental Services Association, Letter to Chancellor of the Exchequer 20 February 2025.]