Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is a UK environmental policy that forces businesses to pay the full cost of collecting, treating and recycling the packaging they put on the market. The legislation replaces current waste regulations with a phased rollout, aiming for full implementation by 2027. For many small business owners, the changes mean new fees, new reporting requirements and a hard look at how they design their packaging.
Who has to pay?
Most microbusinesses and SMEs won’t be affected.
The rules only apply if your annual turnover is between £1 million and £2 million and you handle or supply 25 to 50 tonnes of empty packaging or packaged goods in a calendar year. Above those thresholds, you’re considered a large producer and must follow a different set of rules.
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The definition of “small producer” here is based on packaging supply, not headcount. Even a sole trader can be pulled in if they meet the tonnage and turnover conditions. Affected businesses must register and pay an annual fee of £1,216 — or £631 if they join a government-approved compliance scheme that handles the registration.
What you need to report
If you’re in scope, you’ll need to capture and submit packaging data each year. The submission must include the weight of every material type: paper, plastic, glass, metal, wood and any other material. The government’s Report Packaging Data Service is the portal for this. Only certain people in your business can create an account; sole traders can set one up themselves.
Missed payments or late submissions trigger penalty charges. The system is designed to push companies toward more recyclable packaging. Fees will be modulated based on a new Recyclability Assessment Monitor (RAM) that grades materials as red, amber or green. Full details on the RAM are expected in summer 2026. All materials within the scope of the legislation will be have that color rating.
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How to prepare
Joe Phelan, a business credit cards expert at money.co.uk, advises firms to start collecting data now. “Get a head start by looking over the reporting templates on the government website so you know what to expect,” he said. Conducting a packaging audit can also help identify materials that are harder to recycle — like black plastic — which will cost more under the new fee structure. Switching to easier-to-recycle materials can lead to “significant savings later on,” Phelan added.
For businesses with enough budget, partnering with a compliance scheme can offload the administrative burden. The scheme handles registration and data reporting, but the fees still come out of your pocket. He also suggests using a business credit card as a short-term solution if you lack the cash for the registration fee, calling it “financial flexibility to cover any unexpected costs or late fees.”
What EPR really means
Extended Producer Responsibility is not a new idea internationally. Research cited in the legislation shows that seven jurisdictions, including Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands, saw paper and packaging recycling rates rise above 75 percent after implementing similar policies. The UK’s version follows that same logic: make the producer pay the full cost of end-of-life waste, and they’ll design packaging that’s easier to recycle in the first place.
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For small businesses, the immediate task is straightforward.
Check if your turnover and packaging tonnage cross the thresholds. If they do, start logging data now and budget for the annual fee. If they don’t, you can ignore it — for now. The phased implementation means thresholds could shift in future years.
More guidance is available on the UK government’s EPR for packaging page. The website includes templates, reporting deadlines and a tool to check whether your business needs to act.
