By Georgie Messent, Begonia Filgueira, Alex Hawley and Christina Robertson.
New UK Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) laws for packaging will introduce obligations for businesses selling, importing and handling packaged goods, as well as brand owners and online marketplaces - defined as “producers”- from 1 March 2023. If companies already have the data, Defra would like producers to start reporting from 1 January 2023. This applies across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and each of the nations are governed by their respective regulations.
As part of a transition to a circular economy and working towards net-zero carbon emissions, these laws push obligations up the chain to producers of packaging - to drive changes in design and consideration of its end of life treatment.
New registration, data collection, reporting and payment requirements are being introduced for businesses placing packaging on the UK market. Furthermore, a number of businesses have calculated that the changes will be many times more expensive than UK Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT).
This article summarises the reforms and their impact, flags relevant compliance dates, and looks at the steps businesses could be taking to prepare for the changes, as well as how PwC’s specialist teams can assist.
Packaging regulation is due to change across the whole of the EU by 2024. To date changes have been introduced in France in 2021, Germany in 2022, Spain in December 2022, Sweden from 1 January 2023 and now the UK. This means that businesses who class as producers of packaging in various European jurisdictions need to revisit the requirements of their packaging regulations and ensure compliance with the new regulatory frameworks.
Producers who are affected by the new UK reforms will need to:
The obligations differ depending on whether you have a large or small organisation, where the thresholds are:
Large organisations | Small organisations | |
---|---|---|
Turnover | > £2m/year | > £1m/year |
Tonnages | > 50 Tonnes/year of empty packaging/packaged goods on UK market | > 25 T/year of empty packaging/packaged goods |
Businesses will still need to buy PRNs or PERNs to meet recycling obligations, if required under those frameworks.
Non-compliance with these legal obligations could result in civil sanctions including fines, and criminal prosecution in the most serious cases. Reputational damage is also likely, given increased scrutiny by stakeholders of ESG compliance.
The new laws will apply to businesses, subsidiaries and groups (excluding charities) doing the following activities, who will be deemed “producers” of packaging waste:
From 1 March 2023, producers will need to report data such as the weights and composition of primary, secondary and tertiary packaging broken down into material categories including plastic, paper, glass, wood, and “other” (which must be specified). As mentioned above, Defra would like producers to report from 1 January if they have this information already.
Businesses will also need to report whether or not that packaging is likely to end up as household or non-household waste and in certain cases, its destination within the nations of the UK.
Not only are similar EPR laws in force and changing across Europe, but the EU is also introducing new measures to harmonise packaging across the Single Market - introducing recycling and reuse targets, bans on more types of packaging and measures to encourage the reduction of packaging waste. The Draft Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (which is EU wide and directly applicable, so does not need to be separately implemented by each Member State) was published by the Commission on 30 November 2022, and it is likely that we will see this Regulation being passed during 2024, as EPR and packaging is a priority in the EU. UK businesses who export their products to the EU, and EU businesses who import products to the UK, will need to consider how both the EU Packaging Regulation and UK Packaging Regulations impact their business at a compliance and strategic level.
From our experience, we anticipate that businesses caught as producers, with obligations from 1 March 2023, will need to:
Our multi-jurisdictional team is currently advising on EPR reforms in the UK and across Europe. We can help you navigate the EPR maze by providing the following support: