Impact of extended producer responsibility for packaging on glass packaging producers

Packaging extended producer responsibility (pEPR) is a UK-wide way of incentivising packaging producers to take financial responsibility for the end recycling of their products, rather than local authorities. Under the previous system, packaging producers paid only around 10% of the cost of dealing with packaging waste.

A revised scheme is being phased in which will put the full cost of collecting, sorting, recycling and disposing of household packaging waste onto packaging producers rather than on local authorities. Household recycling will continue to be managed by local authorities who will receive funding through pEPR. Under the revised scheme packaging producers have started incurring fees since April 2025, and invoices will be issued from October 2025 for the 2025-26 scheme year.

One of the new components of the revised scheme is the introduction of modulated (adjusted) fees, which are designed to encourage businesses to make more environmentally responsible choices. Under this system, the fees that producers pay will vary according to the recyclability and environmental impact of their packaging materials.

During the first year of fees (in 2025-26) a flat fee per tonne of material will be used. These fees will not be modulated by recyclability but will reflect the average handling and recycling costs of the material types, termed ‘base fees’. The government has provided an illustration of what these base fees might be. Final confirmation of the base fees is expected by June 2025.

From the second year of the revised pEPR scheme (2026-27), the fees will be modulated to incentivise producers to use materials that are more easily recyclable. The government published guidance, Recyclability assessment methodology: how to assess your packaging waste, in April 2025 which shows how different kinds of packaging will receive different ratings; red, amber or green, with red being the most difficult to recycle packaging and green being the most widely recycled. The rating will affect the fee that will be charged for that packaging. The government has not yet said what levels this fee modulation will be set at or published an illustration.

There has been concern from the metal, food packaging and glass industry associations that calculating the base fees based on the weight of packaging will put a disproportionate cost burden on heavier materials and may cause a market distortion towards less environmentally friendly materials. The government has said it will assess industry feedback on the issue.

For the purposes of pEPR, producers will need to assess whether their packaging is household packaging or non-household packaging. There have also been some concerns raised about the definition of household/non-household items and whether the rules capture these items correctly. The government has said that it would consider future improvement to the scheme.

Concerns have also been raised about charges for packaging materials within closed loop recycling systems and whether this penalises the producers of these products. In a closed loop recycling system, a product is collected and reprocessed by the producer to manufacture another product within the same product category. The government has said that it is considering changes to bring forward an offset for closed loop recycling.