UK issues joint policy statement on Extended Producer Responsibility
The four UK administrations have set out the intended environmental effects of the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme for packaging policy.
The joint statement comes from the Secretary of State for Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), and Ministers in the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) in Northern Ireland, the Scottish Government and Welsh Government.
It is a requirement of the Packaging Regulations 2024 and sets out the intended environmental effects of EPR and how it is intended that the policy will achieve those effects.
Specifically, it covers the core governance documents the Scheme Administrator must publish in 2025; outcomes the Scheme Administrator must work towards; and the deliverables the Four Nations expect in its first year of operation.
The Four Nations consider the delivery of these outcomes as central to supporting the transition to a circular economy, while maximising the carbon efficiencies associated with the lifecycle of packaging materials.
The EPR for packaging policy requires producers to pay for the collection and disposal costs of household packaging when it becomes waste. This is intended to align with producer responsiblity for packaging with the polluter pays principle.
The intended environmental effects include the use of environmentally sustainable packaging and the prevention of packaging becoming waste.
It also includes an increase in the reuse of packaging, and in the quantity and quality of packaging materials recycled, as well as a reduction in packaging material placed on the market.
The first statement from the Scheme Adminstrator is expected no later than June 2025, seeking to:
- Drive producers to use household packaging that is easier to recycle or reuse.
- Apportion fees to material groups in a way that supports the delivery of the intended outcomes of the scheme, factoring in disposal costs and improved environmental outcomes, including where feasible carbon impact.
- Articulate how modulation in particular will encourage the use of easier-to-recycle packaging and a move to reuseable alternatives
- Also, articulate how fees will support recycling at scale
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