United Kingdom EPR

Packaging EPR in United Kingdom: what we have verified

This page collects what we have verified about packaging extended producer responsibility (EPR) in United Kingdom. 13 of 16 core rule fields are published from primary sources and 3 are not yet published. The dataset was last reviewed on November 4, 2026, and the newest source on this page was retrieved on November 4, 2026.

Regime

Extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging, under the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024

Regulator

Four environmental regulators (Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales, SEPA, NIEA); PackUK is the scheme administrator that sets fees

Producers obliged

Yes

System

registered schemes that producers join

Registration

Required

Fee schedules

1

Who is the producer in United Kingdom

In United Kingdom, packaging EPR obliges producers to organise or fund the collection and recycling of the packaging they place on the market. The sections below set out who counts as the producer, which thresholds decide whether a business is in scope, and what has to be filed.

The producer hierarchy decides who answers for a pack when several businesses touch it. For United Kingdom, the dataset names the following roles for each packaging level.

Transfer detail: A compliance scheme can register the producer and report its data, but the producer stays the obligated party and pays waste disposal fees itself

Roles matter because an online seller, an importer and a brand owner can each be the producer for the same pack, and a pack is counted once. If you sell into United Kingdom through a marketplace, check whether the marketplace or you are recorded as the obligated party. Confirm who is responsible for reporting.

Thresholds that apply in United Kingdom

Thresholds decide whether a business is in scope, whether it pays fees, or whether it can file a simplified report. United Kingdom publishes 3 verified thresholds.

Basis of the tonnage threshold: packaging supplied or imported in the UK in the previous calendar year.

Basis of the revenue threshold: worldwide annual turnover.

Basis of the tonnage threshold: with turnover above 1 million and up to 2 million pounds, an obligated producer is small; above 50 tonnes with turnover over 2 million pounds is large.

Exemptions in United Kingdom

An exemption removes or reduces a duty for a defined group. United Kingdom lists 1 exemption in the dataset. Some apply automatically; others only apply if you ask the regulator for them, usually within a window.

Registration and the system in United Kingdom

Registration is where an obligation becomes visible to the regulator. The records below show whether United Kingdom asks producers to register, with whom, and which organisation or scheme carries the collection and recycling system.

Who registers: The producer directly, or a compliance scheme on its behalf. An approved person (director, company secretary, partner or LLP member) creates the account and the regulators approve it.

Renewal: Every year: large producers by 1 October, small producers by 1 April

Registry (opens the official registry page).

Deadlines in United Kingdom

United Kingdom records 7 deadlines, 7 of them verified. This page gives the summary; every date, the period it covers and what it requires are on the deadlines page for United Kingdom.

The next dated obligation we hold for United Kingdom falls on January 31, 2027. 3 more dated obligations follow it.

See every deadline for United Kingdom, with its period and what it requires, on the United Kingdom deadlines page.

A deadline is a date the regulator published, not a date we set. We can estimate what you may owe and prepare the report file; you sign and submit it in the regulator's own portal.

Fees and reporting in United Kingdom

United Kingdom publishes 1 fee schedule, for fee year 2025-26. The schedule sets what each kind of packaging costs; the rates themselves are on the fee pages, not here.

• United Kingdom 2025-26 fees: rates by material for fee year 2025-26.

The report you file is a defined file or form. United Kingdom records 1 format; we prepare the file to that specification and you upload it yourself.

UK EPR packaging data file (large and small producer) is a csv file submitted through Report packaging data service on GOV.UK. The customer, as an approved person, uploads the CSV. A compliance scheme can do this on the producer's behalf. The customer reviews, signs and submits it.

Columns, material mapping and the checks a file must pass are on the United Kingdom report format page.

United Kingdom: packaging fees by material

Instica groups the verified rates of the 2025-26 PackUK extended producer responsibility for packaging (base fees) schedule for United Kingdom into 8 material classes. For each class the table gives the lowest and highest published rate in GBP per tonne and the unweighted mean in GBP per tonne, with a link to the source the rates were read from, retrieved September 29, 2026.

The same material classes in the 2 jurisdictions that publish a per-weight schedule in GBP, United Kingdom included. For each class the table gives the mean here, the median of the other jurisdictions, the rank of United Kingdom (1 is the highest) and the jurisdiction with the highest mean.

Labelling, languages, targets and penalties in United Kingdom

Labelling, language, target and penalty rules are the parts of a regime that are easiest to miss. A report filed in the wrong language or a pack without a required mark can cost as much as a late payment, so read each of these against your own products.

United Kingdom compared with nearby places

Rules do not stop at a border. A business that sells into United Kingdom usually sells into its neighbours too, and the thresholds and deadlines differ. The table reads United Kingdom against the places closest to it that have verified data.

United Kingdom read against each neighbour

Each paragraph reads United Kingdom against one place from the table above, using only records verified for both. A part is left out when either side is not yet published.

United Kingdom and Ireland both record an obligation for packaging producers. United Kingdom runs registered schemes that producers join, while Ireland runs a single producer responsibility organisation. The earliest recorded deadline is October 1, 2026 in United Kingdom and August 12, 2026 in Ireland, 50 days later here.

United Kingdom and Oregon both record an obligation for packaging producers. The regulator is Four environmental regulators (Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales, SEPA, NIEA); PackUK is the scheme administrator that sets fees in United Kingdom and Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) next door. United Kingdom runs registered schemes that producers join, while Oregon runs a single producer responsibility organisation. Registration is required in both. The first thresholds are measured differently: 25 tonnes of tonnage in United Kingdom and $5,000,000.00 of revenue in Oregon, so the figures cannot be compared directly. The earliest recorded deadline is October 1, 2026 in United Kingdom and July 1, 2025 in Oregon, 457 days later here.

United Kingdom and Belgium both record an obligation for packaging producers. The regulator is Four environmental regulators (Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales, SEPA, NIEA); PackUK is the scheme administrator that sets fees in United Kingdom and Interregional Packaging Commission (IVC-CIE, now EPRiBEL) next door. United Kingdom runs registered schemes that producers join, while Belgium runs more than one producer responsibility organisation. Registration is required in both. The first thresholds are measured differently: 25 tonnes of tonnage in United Kingdom and 300 tonnes of single-use packaging per year of tonnage in Belgium, so the figures cannot be compared directly. The earliest recorded deadline is October 1, 2026 in United Kingdom and August 12, 2026 in Belgium, 50 days later here.

United Kingdom and Ontario both record an obligation for packaging producers. The regulator is Four environmental regulators (Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales, SEPA, NIEA); PackUK is the scheme administrator that sets fees in United Kingdom and Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority (RPRA) next door. United Kingdom runs registered schemes that producers join, while Ontario runs more than one producer responsibility organisation. Registration is required in both. The first thresholds are measured differently: 25 tonnes of tonnage in United Kingdom and CA$2,000,000.00 of revenue in Ontario, so the figures cannot be compared directly. The earliest recorded deadline is October 1, 2026 in United Kingdom and May 31, 2026 in Ontario, 123 days later here.

United Kingdom and Italy both record an obligation for packaging producers. The regulator is Four environmental regulators (Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales, SEPA, NIEA); PackUK is the scheme administrator that sets fees in United Kingdom and Ministry of Environment and Energy Security (MASE); CONAI coordinates the consortium system next door. Both run registered schemes that producers join. Registration is required in both. The first thresholds are measured differently: 25 tonnes of tonnage in United Kingdom and 10 tonnes per calendar year of packaging weight in Italy, so the figures cannot be compared directly. The earliest recorded deadline is October 1, 2026 in United Kingdom and August 12, 2026 in Italy, 50 days later here.

United Kingdom and California both record an obligation for packaging producers. The regulator is Four environmental regulators (Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales, SEPA, NIEA); PackUK is the scheme administrator that sets fees in United Kingdom and CalRecycle (Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery), through its PEPRS portal next door. United Kingdom runs registered schemes that producers join, while California runs a single producer responsibility organisation. Registration is required in both. The first thresholds are measured differently: 25 tonnes of tonnage in United Kingdom and $1,000,000.00 of revenue in California, so the figures cannot be compared directly. The earliest recorded deadline is October 1, 2026 in United Kingdom and January 1, 2027 in California, 92 days earlier here.

United Kingdom and Austria both record an obligation for packaging producers. United Kingdom runs registered schemes that producers join, while Austria runs more than one producer responsibility organisation. Registration is required in both. The first thresholds are measured differently: 25 tonnes of tonnage in United Kingdom and 1500 kg per calendar year of packaging weight in Austria, so the figures cannot be compared directly. The earliest recorded deadline is October 1, 2026 in United Kingdom and January 1, 2023 in Austria, 1369 days later here.

United Kingdom and British Columbia both record an obligation for packaging producers. United Kingdom runs registered schemes that producers join, while British Columbia runs a single producer responsibility organisation. Registration is required in both. The first thresholds are measured differently: 25 tonnes of tonnage in United Kingdom and CA$1,000,000.00 of revenue in British Columbia, so the figures cannot be compared directly.

Where United Kingdom sits among the places we cover

Counted by verified core records, United Kingdom holds 13 of 17 and ranks 2 of 53 places in the dataset. The places just ahead of it are United Kingdom Plastic Packaging Tax (14). The places just behind it are Oregon (13), Belgium (12), Ontario (12), Italy (12), California (12) and Austria (11).

Counting every verified record, not only the core fields, United Kingdom holds 24 and ranks 4 of 53. Ahead of it are Ontario (27), Austria (26) and Oregon (25). Behind it are United Kingdom Plastic Packaging Tax (24), Belgium (22), Washington (22), Québec (21), British Columbia (20) and California (20).

All 2 places in this region in the dataset record an obligation, so United Kingdom is not an outlier among its neighbours.

Ordered by earliest verified deadline, United Kingdom comes 37 of 41, on October 1, 2026. Before it come Portugal (August 12, 2026, 50 days earlier), Romania (August 12, 2026, 50 days earlier), Sweden (August 12, 2026, 50 days earlier), Slovenia (August 12, 2026, 50 days earlier), Slovakia (August 12, 2026, 50 days earlier) and Alberta (October 1, 2026, 0 days on the same day). After it come Germany (December 31, 2026, 91 days later), California (January 1, 2027, 92 days later), United Kingdom Plastic Packaging Tax (April 1, 2027, 182 days later) and Maine (May 31, 2027, 242 days later).

Among places whose first threshold is also counted in tonnage, United Kingdom sits 5 of 5 from the lowest. The table sets it beside the places just below and just above.

What is still open for United Kingdom

United Kingdom has 3 of 16 core fields still open, and the reason recorded for each is below.

Labelling

Reason recorded: Mandatory recyclability labelling is planned but no producer labelling rule was found in the sources read. Confirm before relying on required=false.

Penalties

Reason recorded: The penalty and civil sanction amounts are in the regulations and regulator enforcement policy, which were not read. Nothing is recorded rather than guessed.

Filing languages

Reason recorded: GOV.UK guidance is also published in Welsh, but no page says which languages the RPD service accepts for filing. English is recorded as required for the CSV codes.