What is EPR for Packaging?
Find out more about Extended Producer Responsibility
What is Extended Producer Responsibility?
EPR for packaging makes businesses financially accountable for the entire lifecycle of the packaging they place on the market. In simple terms, companies that put packaging on the UK market have to pay a Household Packaging Levy, which will be used to help fund and develop better recycling systems.
The overall goal of EPR is to:
- Improve recycling infrastructure and systems
- Encourage the design of more sustainable, durable and recyclable goods
- Incentivise a reduction in waste
- Promote a more circular economy
Who is affected by EPR regulations?
If your business uses, handles, imports or generates packaging, then you are likely to be affected by the new packaging EPR legislation. There are 3 criteria that your business must meet to have a packaging waste obligation (reporting or fee collection).
- You have a physical presence in the UK.
- You have an annual UK turnover exceeding £1 million.
- You handle more than 25 tonnes of packaging materials.
For many businesses, this means a new set of obligations: more detailed data reporting, possible fees based on packaging type and volume, and a wider focus on the entire lifecycle of packaging materials.
It’s important to note that even if your business falls below the thresholds or fits into an exempt category, you may still have obligations to collect and report certain data. Please check the Government websites for more detailed information.
Packaging activities
You may need to act on EPR if you do any of the following:
Brand Owner
Supply packaged goods labelled with your own brand within the UK
Importer
Import products from outside the UK that are in packaging
Pack Filler
Place goods into unbranded packaging
Distributor
Supply empty packaging to other small businesses
Service Provider
Hire or loan out reusable packaging e.g. wooden pallets
Online marketplace
Run a website or app allowing non-UK businesses to sell their goods into the UK
About PB Group and EPR
PB Group supplies empty packaging and is classified as a ‘Distributor’ of packaging in the EPR system. Therefore, we are responsible for data reporting and fee collection for those who are not an ‘Obligated Producer’ on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs. (DEFRA).
We therefore include EPR ‘Household Levy’ in our prices as standard. However, this can be removed if you make a declaration of exemption.
Exemptions can be declared for a number of reasons and they can be declared for a specific item in an order, an entire order or for a single product. If your organisation as a whole is exempt from paying EPR Household Levy, you can make a declaration online.
Our systems are flexible, so if you make a declaration of EPR status but this default status changes, or you need to change it for a particular order or product, we can do that for you.
