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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging on SME beverage producers.

In October 2024 the Government published a final impact assessment on the pEPR scheme. The impact assessment did not look at the specific impacts of the pEPR scheme on individual sectors.

The Government 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 producers supplying packaging in the UK from paying scheme fees.