PackagingExtended waste:producer prepareresponsibility for extendedpackaging: producerwho responsibilityis affected and what to do

The way UK organisations responsible for packaging must carry out their recycling responsibilities ishas changing.changed.

If you’re affected by the new extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging, you will need to report your packaging data. This means you will need to start collecting the correct packaging data from 1 January 2023.

Check if you need to take action

The regulations will apply to all UK organisations that handleimport andor supply packaging to consumers and to businesses.packaging.

You will need to collect and report packaging data if all the following apply:

• you’re an individual business, subsidiary or group (but not a charity)
• you have an annual turnover of £1 million or more (based on your most recent annual accounts)
• you’reyou were responsible for overmore than 25 tonnes of packaging in a calendar year (January to December)2022
• you carry out any of the packaging activities

Packaging activities

You may need to act if you do any of the following:

• supply packaged goods to the UK market under your own brand
• place goods into packaging that’s unbranded when it’s supplied
• use ‘transit packaging’ to protect goods during transport so they can be sold to UK consumers
• import products in packaging
• own an online marketplace
• hire or loan out reusable packaging
• supply empty packaging

Some organisations that supply packaged goods to the UK market need to report ‘nation data’. You can find out more about this in the ‘check if you need to report nation data’ section.

Supplying goods to the UK market under your own brand

YourYou organisation may need to take action under EPR for packaging if it sells packaged goods labelled with itsyour own brand.brand are supplied to the UK market. A brand includes any of the following:

• a logo

  name

• a trademark

• any distinctivedistinguishing mark

You may also need to take action if you pay or license another company to carrydo outany part of the supplyfollowing chain for you.you:

For example, you may pay another organisation to do any of the following:

• produce goods that will be sold under your brand name
• pack goods that will be sold under your brand name
• place your branded goods on the UK market
• import goods for you

Placing goods into packaging that’s unbranded when it’s supplied

If you place goods into packaging and that packaging is unbranded when it’s supplied, you may need to take action. This could be goods you packaged for your own organisation or for another organisation.

Importing products in packaging

You may need to take action if your organisation imports products from outside the UK that are in primary, secondary or shipment packaging and goes on to supply these products to the UK market.

You may need to take action even if you discard packaging before selling the goods.

You willdo not need to take action if you import goodsfilled packaging that is:

• branded, and you’ve imported it on behalf of anothera organisation.brand owner that is established in the UK
• unbranded, and you go on to supply it to a ‘large’ organisation that applies its brand before supplying it on

The ‘check if you’re a large or small organisation’ section explains which organisations are classed as ‘large’.

Owning an online marketplace

AnUnder EPR for packaging, you’re classed as carrying out the ‘owning an online marketplacemarketplace’ isactivity aif websiteyou thatoperate hasa beenwebsite setor upapp tothat allowallows non-UK organisationsbusinesses to sell their goods online.into the UK. If you own an online marketplace, you may need to take action.

If your organisation owns a website or app that sells goods from UK organisations only, this is not classed as carrying out the ‘owning an online marketplace.marketplace’ activity. However, you should check if you carry out any of the other packaging activities.

Hiring or loaning out reusable packaging

If you hire or loan out reusable packaging, you may need to take action.

Supplying empty packaging

You may need to take action if you makemanufacture or import empty packaging and then supply emptyit packaging to a business that is not classed as a large organisation.

ForYou organisationscan thatfind areout notwhat classed as large, both of the followingcriteria apply:

• theyare havefor ana annuallarge turnoverorganisation, ofin lessthe than‘check £2if million

• theyyou’re handlea large or supplysmall lessorganisation’ than 50 tonnes of packaging a yearsection.

Packaging definition

Packaging is any material that is used to cover or protect goods that are sold to consumers. It makes handling and delivering goods easier and safer. It also includes anything that’s designed to be filled at the point of sale, such as a coffee cup.

Packaging also makes goods look appealing andfor itsale and may display a company’s logo or brand. ‘Goods’ could include raw materials or processedmanufactured items.

What you may need to do

UnderYou the new regulations, you may need to:

• collect and report data on the packaging you handlesupply andor supplyimport
• pay a waste management fee
• buypay scheme administrator costs
• pay a charge to the environmental regulator
• get packaging waste recycling notes (PRNs) or packaging waste export recycling notes (PERNs) to meet your recycling obligations
• report information about wherewhich yournation in the UK packaging hasis beensupplied sold,in hired,and loaned,which giftednation orin the UK packaging is discarded in – this is called ‘nation data’

What you need to do depends on whether you’re classed as a ‘small’ or ‘large’ organisation. This is based on:

• your annual turnover
• how much packaging you handlesupply andor supplyimport each year

Check if you’re a large or small organisation

YouYou’re will be classed as a small organisation if either of the following apply:

• your annual turnover is between £1 million and £2 million and you’re responsible for handlingsupplying andor supplyingimporting more than 25 tonnes of empty packaging or packaged goods throughin the UK market

• your annual turnover is over £1 million and you’re responsible for handlingsupplying andor supplyingimporting between 25 tonnes and 50 tonnes of empty packaging or packaged goods throughin the UK market

You will be classed as a large organisation if both of the following apply:

• you have an annual turnover of £2 million or more

• you’re responsible for handlingsupplying andor supplyingimporting more than 50 tonnes of empty packaging or packaged goods in the UK

You should base your annual turnover on your most recent annual accounts.

Your total weight is the amount of packaging handledin ora calendar year (January to December) that you:

• supplied through the UK market
• imported, inemptied aand calendarthen yeardiscarded (Januaryin tothe December).
  UK

If you’re a small organisation

To comply with the regulations, you must:

• take steps to record data about all the empty packaging and packaged goods you handlesupply andor supplyimport throughin the UK market from either 1 January 2023 or 1 March 2023 (for more information about this see the section about ‘when to collect and report your data for 2023’)

• create an account andfor register your organisation from January 2024

• pay ana annualcharge fee to the environmental regulator from 2024
• report data about empty packaging and packaged goods you handledsupplied or supplied through the UK market throughout 2023imported

If you miss the deadline, you may need to pay a penalty charge.

You may also need to report nation data.

If you’re a large organisation

To comply with the regulations, you must:may need to:

• take steps to record data about the empty packaging and packaged goods you handlesupply andor supplyimport in the UK from either 1 January 2023 or 1 March 2023 (for more information about this see the section about ‘when to collect and report your data for 2023’)
• create an account andfor register your organisation from July 2023
• pay a waste management fee
• pay scheme administrator costs
• pay a charge to the environmental regulator
• buyget PRNs or PERNs to meet your recycling obligations
• report data about empty packaging and packaged goods you handledsupplied or suppliedimported

In through2024 theyour UKwaste market management fee will be calculated based on packaging you’ve reported as ‘household packaging’. Find out more about what’s classed as household packaging.

You’ll need to report data every 6 months.

If you miss the deadline, you may need to pay a penalty charge.

ForYou anymay packagingalso youneed handleto report nation data.

When to collect and supplyreport thatyour isdata collectedfor by2023

If localyou authoritieshave all the required data recorded from householdsthe or1 streetJanuary bins,2023, you should report this data.

If you do not have all the required data recorded from April1 2024January, you must payreport all of your data from the scheme1 administrator:March 2023. If you report data that covers a period starting from 1 March, this will be used to calculate a full year’s worth of data.

• anLarge administrativeorganisations fee

• ain wasteWales managementshould feecomply with this reporting schedule if they have the required data. If they do not have the required data, they should start collecting data from the date the regulations come into force in Wales in mid-2023 and submit it between 1 January 2024 and 1 April 2024.

YouSmall mayorganisations alsoin needWales toshould reportcomply nationwith this reporting schedule if they have the required data. If they do not have the required data, they should start collecting data from the date the regulations come into force in Wales from mid-2023 and submit it between 1 January 2024 and 1 April 2024.

PRNs and PERNs

A PRN (packaging waste recycling note) or PERN (packaging waste export recycling note) is aevidence certificate proving that packaging waste has been recycled properly.recycled.

You can buyget PRNs and PERNs from accredited re-processors. Re-processors are responsible for recycling packaging waste. You can also get PERNs from accredited exporters.

By buyinggetting PRNs and PERNs, you work towards meeting your recycling target.obligations.

If you’re a parent company, group or subsidiary

For parent companies and their subsidiaries, there are different ways you can comply with EPR for packaging. You can register:

• as a whole group (in this instance, the parent group complies with EPR for packaging on behalf of every subsidiary within the group)

• as individual subsidiaries (in this instance, the subsidiaries that meet the turnover and tonnage requirements comply with EPR for packaging independently)

• as a parent company for part of the group (this is where the parent company registers to comply with EPR for packaging on behalf of some, but not all of its subsidiaries)

You should register as a parent company for part of the group if some of your subsidiaries do not meet the turnover and tonnage requirements in their own right, but do meet the requirements when combined. In this instance, the parent company will comply with EPR for packaging on behalf of the combined subsidiaries.

Check if you need to report nation data

Nation data is information about which countrynation in the UK your packaging hasis beensupplied sold,in hired,and loaned,which giftednation orin the UK packaging is discarded in.

If your organisation must act under EPR, you’llfor needpackaging, toyou reportmust submit nation data if you also do any of the following:

• supply filled or empty packaging directly to consumerscustomers in the UK

  UK, where they are the end user of the packaging

• supply empty packaging to UK organisations that are either not legally obligatedobligated, underor theare regulations

  classed as a small organisation

• hire or loan out reusable packaging

• own an online marketplace where other organisations that are based outside the UK sell their empty packaging and packaged goods to UK consumers

• import packagingpackaged togoods into the UK thatfor youyour discardown withoutuse sellingand ordiscard exportingthe it

  packaging

Nation data should show where in the UK you’ve supplied packaging to a person or business who’s gone on to discard it.

Supplying packaging includes:

• selling
• hiring
• loaning
• gifting

This also includes packaging that you’ve imported, emptied and then discarded.

If you miss the deadline, you may need to pay a penalty charge.

Collecting and reporting your packaging data

Your organisation should start preparing now to capture your packaging data.

Your data submission must include the information about the:

• packaging activity – this is how you putsupplied the packaging
• packaging ontype – for example, if the market
• packaging materialis andhousehold weightor non-household
• packaging typeclass –- whether the packaging is primary, secondary, shipment or transittertiary
• wastepackaging typematerial and weight

Find out more about how to collect your packaging data.

Information about fees

As soon as we can, we will give you an indication of what yourthe material fees will be in 2024. These will vary depending on the materials you report.

From 2025 the waste management fee will also vary depending on thehow typeeasily ofthe materialspackaging youcan havebe reported.recycled. Your fee will be lower if you use materialspackaging that areis easier to recycle.

Getting help from a third party (compliance scheme)

Compliance schemes are third parties that help organisations meet the EPR for packaging requirements.

Compliance schemes can:

• pay your registration fees

• buyget PRNs or PERNs to meet your recycling obligations

• report your packaging data

A compliance scheme cannot pay your waste management fee.

If you choose to work with a compliance scheme, you should make sure they appear on the compliance scheme public register.

Get help

If you have any questions, contact the packaging team.