Casepak at the forefront of technical advances as implementation of pEPR scheme gathers pace

Most people in the waste and recycling industry will already be aware of the Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (pEPR) – but there are some key deadlines coming up in 2026 that could catch producers unaware.

PEPR is a UK-wide scheme that requires packaging producers to cover the full cost of managing household packaging waste, including the costs of collecting, sorting, recycling and disposing of packaging once it is discarded by consumers.

The UK’s original packaging producer responsibility scheme was introduced to meet obligations under the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive and required businesses over a certain size to recover and recycle a proportion of the packaging they placed on the market. This original scheme was heavily criticised and the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee found in 2017 that producers covered only around 10% of packaging waste disposal costs, with the rest being funded by taxpayers.

 

A revised scheme began in April 2025, which replaced the previous system where producers paid only a proportion of these costs. Local authorities will continue to manage household recycling services but will now receive funding from producers through pEPR.

The revised pEPR scheme, which operates across all four UK nations, is being implemented under the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024, and is administered by PackUK, a body within Defra.   Producers must register with their respective environmental regulator and report packaging data.

Under the revised scheme, large packaging producers (with a turnover of £2 million and handling more than 50 tonnes of packaging per year) must pay fees based on the amount and type of household packaging they supply.

For the first year, 2025-26, producers will pay a flat base fee per tonne of material, but for 2026-27 fees will be adjusted based on recyclability, based on a red-amber-green rating system. Packaging rated green will incur lower fees, while that rated red will attract higher charges. These fees are passed to local authorities via PackUK and the government estimates the shift in cost from local authorities to producers will total around £1.2 billion a year.

The good news is that this money is expected to be used by local authorities to improve recycling services and infrastructure, to increase recycling rates across the country.

As with any new scheme being introduced, concerns have been raised by different industry sectors. For example, the metal, food packaging and glass industry have raised concerns as there appears to be a disproportionate cost burden on heavier materials. Producers are also required to assess whether their packaging is household or non-household packaging, and concerns have been raised about the definition of household/non household that the government is using. The government has said they will assess industry feedback and consider refining the scheme accordingly.

For now, producers need to comply with the current scheme. Key deadlines coming up include:

• 1st January 2026 onwards – Producers will need to start gathering National Sales data, and (where applicable) Self-Managed Organisation Waste data and data for carrier bags supplied in England for future reporting by 1st April 2027 and 1st August 2026.
• 1st April 2026 (deadline) – Large producers must report Jul-Dec 2025 packaging data, small producers must report annual 2025 packaging data.
• 1st August 2026 (deadline) – Large producers must register and report their Jan-Jun 2026 packaging data, including mandatory Self-Managed Organisation Waste data.

While the scheme can seem like a burden for producers, the aim of making businesses responsible for the cost of managing household packaging waste with the aim of boosting recycling and reducing landfill is a worthy one.

 

Casepak is at the forefront of this new era for the sector having recently partnered with Polytag, a United Kingdom-based tag-and-trace technology provider, to help customers reduce packaging waste and improve recyclability. The partnership has installed Polytag UV tag detection and trace technology at Casepak’s MRF, providing brands with real-time data on when and where packaging is recycled and the recycling rates of their products. These insights will enable brands to accurately report on sustainability progress, ensure compliance with Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) requirements and redesign packaging content to use alternative packaging, reducing compliance costs and carbon footprint – all with the goal of reducing businesses’ impact on the environment.