The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024 came into force on 1 January 2025, establishing a new Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging Waste (pEPR) regime. 

The pEPR regime places reporting and financial obligations on businesses deemed responsible for producing packaging waste, with the aim of funding waste collection and recycling operations. Some existing producer responsibility requirements, such as recycling obligations, are retained under pEPR. 

In-scope businesses will need to report data to the government about any packaging they produce, whilst larger businesses will then also have to pay a fee to cover the costs of local authorities in managing packaging waste. Incentives to arrange recycling and to use more sustainable packaging are provided via reductions in the waste management fee paid by businesses.

Who is in scope?

All businesses which produce more than 25 tonnes of packaging and have a turnover of at least  £1 million will be in scope for reporting obligations under pEPR, whilst those with a turnover of more than £2 million which produce more than 50 tonnes of packaging ("large producers") will also face new financial obligations. Businesses which fail to meet any of their obligations under the pEPR regime commit a criminal offence and could be subject to a fine. 

PackUK

In order to administer the pEPR regime, the government has also launched a new DEFRA-hosted body – PackUK. PackUK will set fee levels under pEPR, collect fees and distribute payments to local authorities.  

Requirements

Data reporting

All in-scope businesses will have to report on the amount of packaging they have supplied for which they are responsible. 

There is a complicated hierarchy for determining which businesses are responsible for each piece of packaging, but activities which may make a business the responsible "producer" include:

• having its branding on packaging;
• being the distributor, packer or filler of empty unbranded packaging;
• importing packaged goods; or
• in some circumstances, being an online marketplace.

Data reporting obligations have already been in force since 2023.

In-scope businesses will generally register with a compliance scheme in order to manage their reporting obligations. Compliance schemes are registered third parties who can support affected businesses with reporting packaging data and complying with recycling obligations. A list of approved compliance schemes is available at the National Packaging Waste Database.

Financial obligations

In addition to existing producer responsibility obligations (such as meeting recycling quotas through the acquisition of Packaging Recovery Notes or Packaging Export Recovery Notes), the regime imposes a new obligation to contribute to local authority costs of collecting and recycling household packaging waste, through payment of a waste management fee. 

The waste management fee is determined by calculating the total amount of packaging for which the producer is deemed responsible and which is likely to become household packaging waste. 

From the second year of the scheme, in-scope businesses will be able to reduce the fee they must pay by using more sustainable packaging. 

Businesses can also reduce the waste management fee by demonstrating that they have a closed loop recycling system in place in respect of some of the packaging for which they are responsible, where that category of packaging is not commonly collected for recycling by local authorities. 

The first waste management fee charges will be levied in 2025 (in respect of 2024 packaging data).

What do businesses need to do?

Reporting obligations are now in place and so in-scope businesses should already have submitted data for 2023 and H1 2024 (for large producers). Most businesses will do this in conjunction with their compliance schemes. 

The deadline for data submission for H2 2024 (or for the full year 2024 for in-scope businesses which are not large producers) is 1 April 2025. 

If you have any questions about how pEPR applies to you, or whether you may be able to take advantage of exemptions or exceptions to reduce the waste management fee, please do not hesitate to get in touch.