UK updates packaging EPR rules from 1 January 2026

From 1 January 2026, the UK’s packaging producer responsibility rules are updated. The Statutory Instrument was made on 17 December 2025 and amends the 2024 Regulations. If you own a brand, pack or fill products, import into the UK, sell online, or run a marketplace, you’re in scope. We’ll walk through what changes and how to stay compliant, using examples you can take into class or use with your team.

Start with who the producer is. For filled packaging, the brand owner who makes the first UK supply is usually the producer. Where several brands appear, if one brand owner makes that first supply, they are the producer; otherwise, the producer is the brand whose mark covers the largest area on the outside of the pack. This aims to make responsibility clear on co‑branded products.

After that first supply, no one else becomes a producer for the same packaging when it changes hands again, apart from the seller at the point of sale. But if a new component is added later-such as a label, cap or sleeve-that component has its own producer determined in the usual way. This closes a common loophole where responsibility could otherwise drift with add‑ons.

Material categories are refined. ‘Fibre‑based composite material’ now means paperboard or paper with one or more plastic layers that form a single unit you cannot separate by hand, unless the plastic is 5% or less by mass. If you can evidence plastic at 5% or less, you may report it as ‘paper or board’. This matters for cups and cartons because categories affect costs and targets.

There’s also a bridge for year‑end reporting. For reports covering the period ending 31 December 2025, you may use either the old or the new definitions for ‘fibre‑based composite’ and ‘paper or board’. From reporting in 2026, use the new definitions. This avoids mid‑winter rewrites of data systems.

Deposit return overlaps are clarified. Packaging that is, or would be, a ‘deposit item’ under a relevant deposit scheme is excluded, including where a low‑volume line exemption applies. The rules also add a definition of ‘marine installation’ for completeness. If you supply into a deposit scheme, check which lines sit outside EPR so you don’t pay twice.

Charities get a targeted carve‑out. A charity acting as a producer does not have to meet producer responsibility obligations or pay the annual disposal and administration fees. Other parts of the regime can still apply. For reprocessors and exporters that are charities, registration duties are delayed until 1 January 2027, with applications due from 1 October 2026.

‘Closed loop packaging waste’ is introduced for food‑grade plastics. To count, the waste must be your own food‑grade household packaging, collected directly from your consumers by you or on your behalf, kept separate from other producers’ material, and sent to a single reprocessor to be recycled back into food‑grade plastic. Think of a brand‑run take‑back for yoghurt pots that become new, food‑safe pots.

Why this matters: properly evidenced closed loop tonnages can be off‑set against the household packaging you supplied when the scheme administrator calculates your disposal fees. To use this route, large producers must pay an additional registration charge of £2,548 for the year and keep strong evidence that the material was collected, kept separate and recycled into food‑grade outputs.

Evidence and records step up. You must keep required data and evidence for seven years. For relevant packaging waste and any closed loop claims, evidence must come from an accredited reprocessor or exporter. If you change reprocessor mid‑period, you may aggregate weights from the old and new reprocessor once; otherwise aggregation is not allowed.

Fee modulation sharpens the design signal. When setting household packaging disposal fees, the administrator may consider whether a pack uses no more material than reasonably necessary. In everyday terms: right‑sizing and removing unnecessary layers can cut both waste and costs.

Late discovery rules are formalised. If the administrator later concludes you should have been treated as a liable producer, they can estimate your data, calculate fees, and charge interest from the date those fees would have fallen due. They have up to four years to issue a notice, extended to ten years if the delay came from your non‑compliance.

Mergers and acquisitions are now explicit. When companies merge, the combined body inherits continuing obligations and any unpaid-or would‑have‑been‑due-disposal and administration fees. PRNs and PERNs already obtained can transfer across. After a merger or a brand/business transfer, you generally have 28 days to register or re‑register, depending on your size.

Brand or business transfers also move data and obligations. For the year of transfer and the following two years, the transferee is treated as a large producer if their adjusted turnover exceeds £2 million and their adjusted packaging in the baseline year exceeded 50 tonnes; otherwise they are treated as small. Both transferor and transferee must resubmit six‑month data for the current and previous year so the right party carries the recycling obligations.

Charges are uprated in several places. Examples from the legislation: one producer registration fee rises to £2,842; a compliance scheme’s main charge moves to £8,691; exporter registration shifts to £3,228. The new closed‑loop additional charge is £2,548. Always check the schedule for the exact fee that applies to your route.

Governance evolves too. The Secretary of State or a statutory body acting as scheme administrator may appoint a not‑for‑profit Producer Responsibility Organisation to run specified functions. There are clear appointment tests, revocation powers, and a mechanism to transfer data, IT and key contracts if a PRO changes, plus an extended complaints route. It’s designed to keep delivery stable and accountable.

Anti‑fraud controls tighten. Reprocessors and exporters must not issue PRNs or PERNs where one has already been issued for the same packaging waste, and must not issue certificates during suspensions. In Scotland, pub operating businesses and alcohol licensors now face offences for failing to collect and report Schedule 10 data. These steps are there to ensure the system pays once for real recycling and that data is reliable.

Key dates, drawn from legislation.gov.uk and Defra’s instrument: 1 January 2026 is when the amendments take effect; by 28 January 2026 pay the closed‑loop charge if you plan to claim in 2026 and, where permitted, amend 2024 reports; by 1 April 2026 amend June 2025 reports where evidence was missing or categories change; for the six months to 31 December 2025 you may include qualifying material as ‘relevant packaging waste’ but not as ‘closed loop’; 1 October 2026 charity reprocessor/exporter registration opens; 1 January 2027 those charity rules bite.

Classroom and workplace prompt: map a real product your class or team knows. Identify who the producer is, apply the 5% plastic test to its cup or carton, and sketch whether a closed loop is realistic and cost‑effective. Then draft a short plan that meets the 28‑day registration duty after a hypothetical brand acquisition, including what evidence you will keep and where you will store it for seven years.