Draft packaging EPR regulations sent to European Union and World Trade Organisation

Draft Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024 have now been sent to the European Union (EU) and World Trade Organisation (WTO), as announced by Defra on 1 May 2024.

This is a significant and important step towards implementing packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulations across the UK in 2025. The regulations provide clarity to the entire packaging supply chain, across all four nations, helping all involved to prepare for the introduction of EPR next year.

When will EPR and packaging fees be introduced?

The regulations are currently with the EU and WTO for an agreed notification period, of 60 days for the EU and 90 days for the WTO. After this, they will be brought before UK Parliament later this year, with the aim of bringing EPR into force by 1 January 2025.

Packaging producers will be required to report data from packaging they’ve placed on the market between January 2024 to December 2024. Producers will begin accruing fees for the management of their packaging, once it becomes household packaging waste from April 2025, with fee modulation being introduced from 2026. All recyclability labelling obligations will now come into force on a single date, the 1 April 2027.

What changes have been made to the draft regulations?

Following feedback from across the value chain and the packaging EPR consultation, changes to the draft Regulations include:

• The addition of recycling targets for 2025 - 2030.
• The introduction of a provision ensuring that if a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) has not been established by 1 January 2028, producers of drinks containers made of PET plastic, aluminum and steel will be subject to the full range of packaging EPR obligations until a DRS is operational for this material.
• Labelling provisions have been amended so that all labelling obligations will now come in to force on the 1 April 2027. The removal of provisions on binned waste and litter payments, which will now be delivered through a separate regulation.
• The Scheme Administrator must now provide guidance on the methodology used and factors considered in assessing net efficient disposal costs and effectiveness.
• The household packaging definition has been revised to widen the criteria which allows packaging to become exempt from being classified as household packaging, and therefore exempt from disposal cost fees. This definition mirrors the definitions in the relevant data reporting regulations in each nation.