Cambrian Packaging

EPR: Everything You Need To Know

13-11-2024

Is the new EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) legislation giving you cause for concern? You’re not alone! In a recent poll of 50 industry leaders across packaging and retail, only 11% said they fully understand what is required of them for EPR both now and in the future.*

Worry not, because at Cambrian we know everything there is to know about EPR and all your obligations under the new legislation. Our team of experts is well versed in the details of what it means for your business and how you can go about ensuring you’re fully compliant with all the new regulations.

Here, our Compliance Manager Michael Murray talks you through everything you need to know about EPR.

What Is EPR?

EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) is a reform of the existing Packaging Waste Regulation (PWR) legislation. EPR is a policy tool which requires producers to be responsible for the full net cost of managing the packaging they place on the UK market at the end of its life. It started being phased in in 2023 and ran alongside PWR for 2023 and 2024.

What’s The Purpose Of EPR?

The purpose of EPR is to help meet environmental targets and encourage companies to invest in sustainable packaging design.

The legislation places significant responsibility on product and packaging manufacturers, importers and brand owners to reduce the environmental impact of their products and packaging, and obligated businesses will be required to contribute financially to the cost of recycling and handling it.

EPR will introduce eco-modulation of its fees – if packaging is hard to recycle, nonrecyclable or does not contain recycled content, the payable fees will likely be higher.

Who Is Affected By EPR?

A UK business will have an obligation under EPR if its annual turnover exceeds £1 million, if it supplies and/or imports over 25 tonnes of packaging in a calendar year and carries out any of the following packaging activities:

Supply packaged goods to the UK market under your own brand.
Place goods into packaging.
Import products in packaging.
Own an online marketplace.
Hire or loan out reusable packaging.
Supply empty packaging.

There are two key thresholds which determine whether an organisation will be obligated to report data only as a Small Producer or report data AND adhere to financial obligations as a Large Producer.

		Turnover
		<£1 million	£1m – 2 m	>2m
Packaging supplied/ imported per calendar year	< 25 tonnes	No obligation	No obligation	No obligation
	25-50 tonnes	No obligation	Small Producer	Small Producer
	> 50 tonnes	No obligation	Small Producer	Large Producer

What Does It Mean For Your Business?

Due to the fact that EPR is introducing eco-modulation of its fees (i.e, penalising the use of materials that are less environmentally friendly, and rewarding the use of those that are) means that how you record and report your packaging data will change.

Small Producers are required to report their packaging data annually, but do not incur financial obligations to support recycling. Large Producers are required to report their packaging data every six months and finance their obligations via PRNs/PERNS and the local authority waste management fee.

Organisations that supply packaged goods to end users in the UK may need to collect ‘nation data’.

Nation Data

Nation data is information about which nation in the UK packaging is supplied in and which nation in the UK packaging is discarded in.

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

Supply filled or empty packaging to customers in the UK, where they are the end user of the packaging.
Supply empty packaging to UK organisations that are either not legally obligated, or are classed as a small organisation.
Hire or loan out reusable packaging.
Own an online marketplace through which organisations based outside the UK sell their empty packaging and packaged goods to UK consumers.
Import packaged goods into the UK for your own use and discard the 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
Providing in exchange for something other than money
Providing because of a statutory duty.

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

Packaging Definition

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

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

Packaging is further divided into Primary, Secondary, Shipment and Tertiary Packaging:

Primary Packaging

Primary packaging is what’s used to contain a single ‘sales unit’ to sell to customers. For a sales unit that’s made up of lots of items, such as a multipack, the primary packaging includes all of the packaging on the items.

Secondary Packaging

Secondary packaging is for grouping several ‘sales units’ for selling or transport purposes. Organisations may also use secondary packaging to display goods in shops.

Shipment Packaging

Shipment packaging is any packaging added to primary packaging for goods sold online or by mail order and delivered directly to the purchaser or to a shop or collection point. Shipment packaging can include cardboard boxes, bubble wrap and mail bags.

Tertiary Packaging

Tertiary or transit packaging is used to group secondary packaging units together to protect them while being transported or handled through the supply chain. Tertiary packaging does not include road, rail, ship, and air containers.

What Should You Already Be Doing To Comply?

Obligated businesses should already be collating packaging data and should be registered with the government/Defra for data reporting purposes.

Packaging data should have been reported for packaging placed on the UK market in 2023.

What Are The Next Steps In The Legislation Going Forward?

The main Statutory Instrument was laid in parliament on 24th Oct 2024 and is due to come into force in January 2025. The ‘old’ PWR will be revoked, and businesses will be required to finance their obligations based on 2024 data reported under EPR legislation.

How Can You Ensure Your Business Is Fully Compliant?

To be fully compliant you must have accurate and up to date information for your packaging data and make sure you are reporting this data during the reporting period applicable for your obligations.

Large Producers

Record packaging data and report every six months:

1st reporting period – for packaging placed on the UK market between 1st of January – 30th June. Data should be submitted by 1st October.

2nd reporting period – for packaging placed on the UK market between 1st of July – 31 st of December. Data to be submitted by 1st April.

Small Producers

For packaging placed on the UK market in the previous calendar year, record your data and report annually. Data to be submitted by 1st April.

How Cambrian Can Help

At Cambrian, we can provide practical help and guidance to all our customers who have EPR obligations. For example, we can provide detailed packaging weight reports to ensure that you have accurate packaging data to report. For Large Producers these will be sent at the start of each reporting period; for Small Producers these will be sent in January.

We can also help to reduce your EPR costs with our wide range of fully recyclable products and products containing recycled content. As EPR is introducing eco-modulation of its fees, your business will pay less if you invest in sustainable and recyclable packaging.

Our ECycle™ range, for example, contains products including bottles, spray bottles and jerry cans, manufactured from 100% recycled content while our Zero PPT range contains bottles, jerry cans and trigger spray heads all manufactured from 30% minimum recycled material.