Final EPR base fees and fee modulation to 2029 announced

The EPR scheme administrator, PackUK, has announced the final EPR base fees.

Outlined below are the most important points you need to know, with links to the full guidance pages.

Confirmed 2025 EPR base fees

After several rounds of estimates, the material base fees for packaging supplied in 2024 – paid between October 2025 and June 2026 if producers choose quarterly instalment terms – have been confirmed.

As illustrated below, all material categories have reduced in price per tonne, other than a minimal increase to fibre-based composites. Significantly, the cost of glass packaging has reduced by 20% - which will go some way to allaying fears that overall EPR costs could be detrimental to the glass industry.

In simple terms, the base fees are calculated by dividing local authority packaging waste management costs by the total amount of household packaging reported by liable producers. The significant changes from the most recent estimates, released in December last year, are due to a number of factors according to PackUK’s statement:

1. Changes to the tonnages of packaging reported by producers – including the availability of data for the full 2024 calendar year, as opposed to only H1
2. Modifications to the process of estimating missing tonnages
3. Adjustments to the modelling of local authority costs, resulting from stakeholder feedback
4. A reduction in the ‘bad debt provision’ fee applied to the total costs, from 6 to 4%

Change in base fees from 2024 estimate to 2025 finalised figures

The publication of these finalised fees means producers can now be much more confident of expected costs and invoice amounts ahead of October this year, alongside the reduction in compliance costs which will be welcome to most.

The Ecosurety EPR cost modelling analytics have been updated with these latest base fees, accessible to Advanced and Premium members in the Ecosurety Hub website.

Fee modulation policy statement

Obligated producers will be aware that the first year of EPR fees will be charged at the base fee rate outlined above, but from 2026 onwards they will be modulated in relation to packaging recyclability.

This recyclability is determined by the Recyclability Assessment Methodology (RAM), the output of which producers will submit against their 2025 household packaging data. The RAM allocates packaging from least recyclable (‘red’) to the most recyclable formats (‘green’).

Previously, to what extent the base fees would be modulated was not confirmed. However, PackUK’s modulation policy statement establishes a three-year framework that outlines escalating modulation factors for packaging assigned as ‘red’:

• 1.2x material base fee for the 2026/27 financial year
• 1.6x material base fee for 2027/28 financial year
• 2x material base fee for 2028/29 financial year

In turn, this means packaging assigned ‘green’ under the RAM will profit from gradually decreasing fees, as the total amount due to local authorities is reimbursed increasingly by packaging assigned as ‘red’.

The statement also clarifies PackUK’s position on medical packaging. As medical packaging is limited to certain material use under other legislation it will be treated differently. Medical packaging that is assigned either ‘green’ or ‘amber’ under the RAM will be charged as such, however if it is assigned ‘red’ “by virtue of regulatory requirement, then it can be reported as belonging to this specific category, and will be modulated as if it were amber-rated”.

Essentially, if medical packaging is assigned ‘red’ due to unavoidable regulatory requirements it will be charged at the base fee and not subject to the modulation factors described above.

We’re here to help

If you have any questions about your packaging EPR fees or RAM data submission, please contact your account manager or help desk for assistance.