Extended Producer Responsibility

The rules for UK businesses who handle and supply packaging are changing. If you are covered by Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging, you need to report your packaging data.

Do you handle or supply packaging?

You handle or supply packaging if you carry out one or more of the following activities:

• supply packaged goods to the UK market under your own brand
• package goods for another UK organisation
• use ‘transit packaging’ to protect goods during transport so they can be sold to UK consumers
• import products in packaging
• own an online marketplace allowing non-UK organisations to sell their goods online
• hire or loan out reusable packaging e.g. wooden pallets etc.
• sell empty packaging

Further details, on each of the packaging activities mentioned above, can be found on the gov.uk website.

Do you need to comply with Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)?

Businesses who handle more than 25 tonnes of packaging in a calendar year and have a turnover of more than £1 million (based on the previous financial year) must comply with the EPR, although the rules are slightly different between small and large businesses.

Are you a small or large business under EPR?

What you must do

Small producers

To comply with the regulations:

• you must take steps to record data about all the empty packaging and packaged goods you handle and supply through the UK market, and have handled and supplied through the UK market since 1 January 2023;
• currently you don’t have to report the data, but you will need to, in the future.

Large producers

To comply with the regulations, you must:

• take steps to record data from 1 January 2023 onwards, about the empty packaging and packaged goods you handle and supply in the UK;
• enroll for the EPR for packaging online service, from April 2023;
• submit, every six months, the data about empty packaging and packaged goods you handled or supplied through the UK market.

The EPR for packaging fees have been deferred for a year. You will not have to pay any EPR for packaging fees in 2024. 

Packaging collected by local authorities, from households or street bins

If the packaging you handle or supply is household packaging, you must pay the scheme administrator:

• an administrative fee;
• a waste management fee.

What data must you collect?

You must collect data about the packaging you’ve handled and supplied through the UK market.

The data you collect must include details of:

• the packaging activity – how the packaging is put on the market;
• packaging material and weight;
• packaging type – primary, secondary, shipment or transit;
• waste type.

You may also need to collect nation data, that is, data about where in the UK your packaging has been sold, hired, loaned, gifted or discarded.

How often do you need to report the data?

The frequency at which you must report packaging data depends on whether you are classed as a small or large business under EPR.

• Small organisations must report their data every 12 months.
• Large organisations must report their data every 6 months.

Find out more on collecting your packaging data on the gov.uk website.

Do you need to submit nation data?

You must submit nation data if your business:

• supplies filled or empty packaging directly to consumers in the UK
• supplies empty packaging to UK organisations that are not legally obligated under the regulations
• hires or loan out reusable packaging
• owns an online marketplace where other organisations sell their empty packaging and packaged goods to UK consumers
• imports packaging to the UK that you discard without selling or exporting it

Nation data must be submitted by the 1 December of the following calendar year.

Further information

Extended Producer Responsibility, GOV.uk
Extended Producer Responsibility, DAERA