UK packaging EPR changes start on 1 January 2026

From 1 January 2026, the UK’s updated Extended Producer Responsibility rules for packaging take effect. If you make, import or sell packaged goods, you’ll fund more of the real-world costs of dealing with that packaging and you’ll need stronger evidence to show where it ends up. The regulations were made on 17 December 2025 and sit on legislation.gov.uk as Statutory Instrument 2025/1369.

Let’s start with the idea many of you have asked about: “closed loop” packaging waste. This is a new, tightly defined route for food-grade plastic that you supplied on or after 1 January 2024, collected back directly from your customers, kept separate from other materials, and recycled by a single accredited reprocessor into new food-contact material. If you can prove all of that, you may offset this weight against the household packaging you supplied when your disposal fees are calculated-provided you’ve paid an extra registration charge.

Why the fuss about food grade? Turning a yoghurt pot back into safe food-contact plastic is harder than turning it into a plant pot. The law now rewards the tougher option because it keeps materials cycling at higher value. What this means: if you run a bring‑back scheme for your own branded food tubs and they’re reprocessed into new food-contact plastic, you can reduce the tonnage that drives your fees in that category, but only if you’ve registered for closed loop reporting and kept robust evidence from an accredited reprocessor or exporter.

Packaging categories also get clearer rules. “Fibre‑based composite” now covers materials made of paperboard or paper fibres with one or more plastic layers that can’t be separated by hand. “Paper or board” can include these items only if the plastic is no more than 5% of the pack by mass. For reporting covering late‑2025, producers may use either the old or the new definitions; from 2026, work to the updated test. If your laminated carton sits near the 5% mark, you’ll want a supplier statement on the plastic percentage.

Who counts as the producer on a pack? After the first supply of the packaging by the person who is a producer under the rules, no‑one else becomes a producer just by reselling it. If someone adds a new component-say, a fresh label-that component has its own producer. Where more than one brand appears, if the brand owner of one of those brands made the first supply, that brand owner is the producer; otherwise, the brand with the largest share of the outer surface is the producer. That matters for data, fees and accountability.

Charities get a more precise carve‑out. They are now excluded from obligations that apply to producers, including annual disposal and administration fees, but other parts of the system still touch them. For example, charities that are reprocessors or exporters must register from 1 January 2027, with a set‑up window opening on 1 October 2026. Until then, operating without registration isn’t an offence for charities under those specific provisions.

Mergers and brand sales are handled in a new trio of rules. If two companies merge, the combined business is treated as large if any merging company was large in the year of the merger, and it inherits continuing obligations, including data retention. PRNs and PERNs bought by a merging company can transfer across. When a brand or part of a business is sold, the buyer must tell the regulator within 28 days, update registration, and-in many cases-both buyer and seller must resubmit data for the half‑years ending 30 June and 31 December in the current and previous year so fees and recycling obligations track the brand to its new owner.

On deposit return schemes, the exemption for “deposit items” is confirmed and widened to cover lines that would be deposit items but for a specific low‑volume exemption in the relevant deposit regulations. In short, if a bottle is already inside a deposit scheme-or would be but for a small‑run exception-it doesn’t attract these producer obligations for that item. This is designed to avoid double‑charging and to keep responsibilities tidy between schemes.

There’s a tougher stance on PRNs and PERNs, the certificates that evidence recycling and export for recycling. Reprocessors and exporters must not issue a PRN or PERN where one has already been issued for the same packaging waste, and must not issue certificates in other barred circumstances. This is about data integrity so you’re not paying fees on the same waste twice-or claiming credit twice.

How will your fees be worked out? You are a “liable producer” for an assessment year if you were a large producer in the previous calendar year and you supplied household packaging in a relevant role such as brand owner, packer/filler, importer or first UK owner, distributor, online marketplace operator or service provider. The scheme administrator calculates disposal fees for household packaging and a separate administration fee. A new factor joins the eco‑modulation toolkit: whether your pack uses no more than is reasonably necessary to do its job. Right‑sized, simple packaging should help your profile over time.

Closed loop offsets only count if you’ve paid the additional registration charge and kept the right evidence. If you haven’t, the scheme administrator will ignore closed loop tonnage in your calculation. There’s also a late‑assessment power: if the administrator later discovers you were a liable producer for a past assessment year, it can estimate your supplied tonnages, bill you, and charge interest back to when payment would have fallen due. There’s a four‑year limit for such notices, extended to ten years if the failure stems from non‑compliance.

The record‑keeping bar rises. Producers must keep required data and supporting evidence for at least seven years. Evidence for relevant packaging waste and for closed loop material must come from accredited reprocessors or exporters. Sellers no longer have to keep certain data items that created duplication, but the core expectation is simple: if you report it, you should be able to evidence it.

There are transitional routes to tidy up data from 2024–2025. Large producers can amend earlier reports for the half‑years ending 30 June or 31 December 2024, and 30 June 2025, to reflect the new definitions and to include eligible material as relevant packaging waste where allowed. The deadline for 2024 amendments is 28 January 2026; for the first half of 2025 it’s 1 April 2026. For the half‑year ending 31 December 2025, you may include qualifying material in relevant packaging waste rather than closed loop. A single £2,548 charge applies if you make these amendments or include that 2025 material in this way.

Fees rise across the system in 2026. As examples, the main producer registration fee moves to £2,842, the small‑producer fee to £1,303, and reprocessor registration to £3,228. Reprocessor accreditation tiers are uprated, with the top band at £3,965. There’s also a new £2,548 additional charge for large producers that wish to report closed loop packaging waste in 2026. The regulator says the schedule will keep rising annually for inflation from 2027.

For you and your learners, this is a live case study in who pays for waste. The policy goal-set out by Defra and the devolved governments-is to shift costs from councils and taxpayers to the companies that design and place packaging on the market, and to push designs that are easy to recycle, right‑sized and well‑labelled. As fees and reporting sharpen, we should see better data, fewer unnecessary materials and stronger take‑back for food‑grade plastics.

If you’re teaching or running a small brand, here’s the practical takeaway. Map your packs to the right categories, especially where paper, board and plastic layers meet. Decide whether a closed loop scheme for your own food‑grade plastics is realistic this year, and if so, register early and line up an accredited reprocessor. If you’ve merged or bought a brand since 2024, expect to resubmit half‑year data so the scheme can allocate fees and obligations to the right entity.

Finally, a housekeeping note. The information‑sharing rules now allow agencies, the scheme administrator and any appointed Producer Responsibility Organisation to share data between them. The scheme administrator may appoint a PRO-always a not‑for‑profit body-to run parts of the system, with tight rules on appointment, oversight and, if needed, revocation. That is a reminder to all of us: good data and clear lines of responsibility make environmental policy teachable and workable.