UK-wide Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility Regulations (pEPR) now in force: Fees in 2025 and beyond…

By Alex Hawley, Christina Robertson, Natasha Cooper, Luke McCarthy

The UK pEPR scheme and who it affects

Under the UK's pEPR scheme, businesses are categorised and obligated based on their annual turnover and the amount of packaging they handle in the UK:

Small Producers include any business (excluding charities) that:

• Has an annual turnover exceeding £1 million;
• Imports or supplies more than 25 tonnes of packaging (of any material) to the UK market; and
• Does not exceed the ‘Large’ producer thresholds (below).

Large Producers include any business (excluding charities) that:

• Has an annual turnover exceeding £2 million; and
• Imports or supplies more than 50 tonnes of packaging (of any material) to the UK market.

All Producers are required to register and report packaging tonnage data to the government’s online Report Packaging Data (RPD) portal. Large Producers must do so twice a year - once by 1 April and once by 1 October, and Small Producers once, by 1 April this year (and annually thereafter).

Producers must also submit their ‘Nation Data’ on where packaging was supplied by 1 December 2025 if they:

• supply packaging directly to end users in the UK;
• supply empty packaging to UK organisations that are not legally obligated or are small organisations;
• hire or loan reusable packaging;
• own an online marketplace for non-UK organisations to sell empty packaging and packaged goods to UK users; or
• import packaged goods into the UK for personal use and discard the packaging.

The January 2025 UK-wide regulations introduce the liability for Large Producers to pay fees, with first invoices expected to be issued in October 2025.

These fees will be determined by reference to:

• Scheme administration costs; and
• Disposal costs (calculated by applying the modulations set out in Defra’s Recyclability Assessment Methodology to relevant packaging category base fees).

Recyclability Assessment Methodology

Also in December, Defra published their Recyclability Assessment Methodology (RAM), in line with their intention to introduce modulated fees from 2026.

Large Producers are encouraged to start using the RAM in relation to their household packaging placed on the market from 1 January 2025, with the first six months of data to be reported by 1 October 2025.

Penalties

Meanwhile, enforcement action is also increasing. In England:

• The Environment Agency recently consulted on proposed amendments to its Enforcement and Sanctions Policy - specifically how they will apply civil sanctions in its enforcement of the pEPR scheme; and
• Environment Agency audits of pEPR Producers are happening now. More EA officers are being onboarded and trained in pEPR enforcement specifically, and officers are shifting their focus in 2025 from catching ‘free-riders’, to delving into Producer submissions to identify inaccuracies.

Those struggling with compliance should be prepared. Ultimately, both civil sanctions and criminal prosecution are possible consequences of non-compliance.