Bottles EPR fees United Kingdom: what a plastic bottle costs per 1,000 packs, 2025-26

What this page estimates for a plastic bottle in United Kingdom

The plastic bottle on this page is a clear PET bottle closed with a plastic screw cap. It has 2 components, each matched to the published rates of the 2025-26 schedule of PackUK extended producer responsibility for packaging (base fees) for United Kingdom; weight times rate gives a fee per 1,000 packs in GBP. The figures are estimates built on starting weights.

What is in a plastic bottle

The bottle has two components: the PET body and the plastic cap. A label or shrink sleeve is not weighed in the starting estimate.

Starting weights, an Instica estimate for a typical pack and not a measured weight: bottle (PET plastic, 22 g) and cap (plastic, 2 g).

Bottle

PET plastic, 22 g (Instica starting estimate)

Cap

plastic, 2 g (Instica starting estimate)

Worked example: 1,000 plastic bottles in United Kingdom

One plastic bottle of the Medium (about 16 to 20 oz) size weighs 24 g in total. For each component the table gives its weight, the matched published rates, and the fee for 1,000 packs.

Added together, the estimate for 1,000 packs is £10.15.

Divide by 1,000 for a single pack: about £0.0102.

What the fee tool returns for 1,000 plastic bottles in United Kingdom

Entered into the public fee tool for United Kingdom (2025-26 schedule, effective June 27, 2025), 1,000 plastic bottles give the figures below. The tool is the same engine that prices a report, so this page and the tool agree.

The tool total is £10.15.

Which published rates were matched in United Kingdom

One published rate was matched to the pack in United Kingdom from the 2025-26 schedule. Each is quoted from the programme’s own fee table; the page does not change the rate or round it.

Bottle, 22 g: one matched rate

Cap, 2 g: one matched rate

How size changes the fee for a plastic bottle

The weight of a plastic bottle depends on its size. The table prices each of the 3 sizes with the same matched rates, so the only thing that changes between rows is the weight.

Each component of the plastic bottle priced at every size, at the matched rates for United Kingdom.

What if the plastic bottle used another material?

Suppose the main component of the plastic bottle, weighing 22 g, were made of another material. The table prices the same weight in each material class that United Kingdom publishes a rate for, at the lowest published rate in that class.

A fee comparison only: another material changes weight and protection too.

What a larger run of plastic bottles costs in United Kingdom

Fees scale with the number of packs, because the schedule charges by mass. The table repeats the worked example for larger runs of the Medium (about 16 to 20 oz) plastic bottle in United Kingdom. Nothing else changes between rows: the same weights and the same matched rates apply.

Taken as a whole, the pack is priced at £0.423 per kilogram of packaging, so a heavier pack costs more in proportion to its weight.

Flat fee bands, registration fees and minimum charges sit outside this per-kilogram table.

The fee schedule behind these figures for United Kingdom

The rates come from the 2025-26 schedule of PackUK extended producer responsibility for packaging (base fees) for United Kingdom, effective June 27, 2025. The facts below record where it was published and what else the schedule charges.

The schedule also lists 2 other fees, which are not part of the per-kilogram estimate on this page.

The schedule describes an eco-modulation of its rates, so the fee a producer pays can be adjusted up or down from the base rates shown here.

Ways to lower the fee on a plastic bottle

Bottle weight falls when the wall is thinner, and many programmes publish a lower rate for clear PET than for coloured or opaque PET.

The cap is often a different plastic from the body, and some schedules price caps and lids on a separate line.

A deposit or take-back scheme can take a bottle out of the producer fee schedule altogether, so check whether one covers your drink or product.

Bottles of the same capacity can differ in weight by several grams between suppliers, so weigh your own bottle and cap before relying on a starting estimate.