Required actions for small organisations under packaging EPR

Introduction

This article explains the required actions for organisations classed as small under the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging regulations.

If you have not done so already, Identify if your organisation is impacted by packaging EPR and Identify if your organisation is classed as small or large.

Collecting data

As a small organisation you should record data ready for reporting about the empty packaging and packaged goods you supply or import in the UK from 1 January 2023.

This data must include:

• The packaging activity – how you put the packaging on the market

• The individual packaging materials and weights

• The packaging class – for example, primary, secondary, shipment or transit

• Whether the packaging is a drinks container

This data requirement, including the material categories, is more complex than the old producer responsibility requirements that EPR replaces. It is important that you start collecting data about packaging you supplied or imported from 1 January 2023, if you have not already.

To help, we have an article covering this data task in more detail for you, Understand your packaging EPR data requirements.

It is important to note that for packaging placed on the market in 2023, producers will be required to complete data requirements under both the new packaging EPR measures and the existing 2007 packaging waste regulations if you meet the threshold for it. This is because 2024 PRN obligations will be based on 2023 data using the old shared obligation method, not the new EPR single point of compliance. From 2025 all data reporting and financial obligation calculations will fall under EPR. We will inform members when they need to submit data under each regulation.

Whilst small organisations are required to collect EPR data from 2023, they will not need to submit any EPR data until 2025, which will be based on packaging they placed on the market in 2024. The 2023 data should be retained for record-keeping purposes only.

Data collection timing and reporting

Small organisations are legally required to capture data about their packaging from 2023. They do not need to submit any data until 2025 however, which will be based on 2024 packaging.

Registering your organisation

From January 2024 You must create an account on a new government website, enrol your organisation and nominate your compliance scheme to submit data on your behalf. You must also pay an annual fee to the environmental regulator from 2025. Once this is done you will be able to submit your collected data directly or via a compliance scheme such as Ecosurety.

Submitting your data

Your collected data must be submitted online annually, between 1 January and 1 April of the following year. Submitting your data will begin from 2025, using your annual 2024 data.

The table below outlines the data collection and reporting requirements for small organisations:

Nation data reporting

There is an additional nation data reporting requirement which may apply to your organisation if your annual turnover is more than £1m and you handle or supply more than 25 tonnes of packaging in a calendar year. This requires you to identify which country in the UK your packaging has been sold, hired, loaned, gifted or discarded in.

If your organisation is obligated under packaging EPR, then you must also submit nation data if you do any of the following:

• Supply filled or empty packaging directly to consumers in the UK, where they are the end user of the packaging

• Supply empty packaging to UK organisations that are not legally obligated under the packaging EPR regulations or are classed as a small organisation

• Hire or loan out reusable packaging

• Own an online marketplace where organisations based outside the UK sell their empty packaging and packaged goods to UK consumers

• Import packaged goods into the UK and you discard the packaging

This data is reported separately and to a different deadline. The first data reporting deadline will be 1 December 2025 to report 2024 nation data, although you will be required to collect the data from 2023, even though the first reportable data relates to 2024 packaging. The deadline will then be in July every year after that.

Find out more in our article Understand the nation data requirement.

Financial obligations

Small organisations will need to pay a fixed annual fee when registering and will not have any other financial obligations associated with their packaging.

Mandatory labelling

In September 2024 Defra announced they have removed text around labelling provisions from the draft EPR statutory instrument (SI) that will be passed ahead of 2025.

This was because if the labelling provisions remained in the legislation, it was thought that there would be difficulties in passing the EPR regulations as a whole due to complexities surrounding the Windsor Agreement and maintaining a soft border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

Defra stated that they are still committed to introducing a form of mandatory labelling to the EPR system, and that this is a “temporary position…and [that their] approach is likely to be consistent across all nations of the UK. In preparing these provisions, we will review the forthcoming EU packaging legislation and explore the potential for consistency across our approaches”.

It is therefore unclear at present what mandatory labelling provision will be in the place, and when producers will have to start complying with it. We recommend packaging producers continue to use the OPRL scheme to ensure their consumers clearly understand how they should correctly dispose of their waste.

Previously, it was understood that all primary and shipment packaging, including films and flexibles, should bear the OPRL 'Recycle Now' mark by April 2027 as described below, but it remains to be seen whether this will still be the case and when this obligation will apply. Find out more in our article Understand mandatory packaging labelling.

gov.uk EPR obligation checker

Government have provided an online tool to check if you have any packaging EPR data obligations. This can help you determine what required actions your organisation may have. To visit the gov.uk checker please click here.

Next steps

We recommend that you start getting to grips with your packaging data as soon as possible. Our next article walks you through exactly what you need to capture and when - Understand my packaging EPR data requirements.

External references

gov.uk EPR obligation checker tool

Read the official packaging EPR guidance on gov.uk

Page updates

11 October 2024 - We updated the first nation data reporting deadline to 1 December 2025.

3 October 2024 - We updated the timeline and 'Mandatory labelling' section due to the delay announced by government in September 2024.

16 May 2024 - We added information to the 'Mandatory labelling' section to explain that distributors of packaging will be required to provide packaging recyclability information to any small producers they supply.

25 April 2024 - We updated the timeline and 'Mandatory labelling' section to update the start date of all mandatory labelling to 1 April 2027.