The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) has released a document detailing the initial base fees for new Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) LA Waste Management obligations for the first year of the scheme. These fees are relevant to charges imposed by the Government-appointed Scheme Administrator (SA) on obligated packaging producers supplying ‘household’ packaging. They do not include regulator charges from agencies like the Environment Agency, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, or costs associated with meeting packaging recycling targets, such as the purchase of Packaging Waste Recycling Notes (PRNs).
The document represents the UK government, the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) in Northern Ireland, the Scottish Government, and the Welsh Government. Fees will be applied from 1 April each year, based on packaging supplied by registered producers during the preceding calendar year. The deadline for reporting data on packaging is 1 April, meaning that actual fee rates for the first year of EPR (2025/26) will be determined after this date.
Obligated producers' fees will be calculated by the SA using a formula embedded in the Fees and Payments Calculator (FPC), as outlined in the draft Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations.
Defra has provided illustrative base fees for eight packaging categories, responding to industry requests for greater clarity regarding anticipated costs. These fees, although based on different datasets than those the SA will use, are shared to help producers prepare. For example, the illustrative base fee for aluminium ranges from £245 to £655 per tonne, while for glass, it ranges from £130 to £330 per tonne.
Defra emphasises that these illustrative fees are subject to change and significant uncertainty. Updated figures are expected in September 2024, following further review of data submitted through the Report Packaging Data (RPD) online portal. Additionally, from the second year of EPR, fees will be modulated to encourage the use of more sustainable packaging materials, with details expected in Autumn 2024.
A Defra spokesperson stated that the government is committed to reducing waste and transitioning towards a circular economy. The introduction of EPR for packaging is seen as a crucial step in this process, promising to create jobs, stimulate investment in the recycling sector, and shift the financial burden of waste management from taxpayers to producers.
