You searched for something like "packaging EPR fees UK" or someone forwarded you an invoice preview and you thought: wait, what are you talking about? This post is for you. No jargon, no acronym soup, just the system explained from zero.
The short version
The UK has decided that the companies who put packaged products on the market should pay for collecting and processing that packaging when it becomes waste. The policy is called Extended Producer Responsibility, or EPR. If your business sells packaged goods in the UK above certain size thresholds, you report what packaging you use and you get a bill.
Your packaging costs stack up to three parts, and each one responds to design decisions you control.
Part one: the base fee
For producers above the liability thresholds, each tonne of household packaging reported is charged a rate that depends on its material. The regulations sort packaging into eight material categories: aluminium, fibre-based composites, glass, paper or board, plastic, steel, wood, and other materials. Rates differ a lot between materials, which is why the same product in a glass jar and a plastic pot produces two very different lines on the bill.
Want to see the difference for your own pack? Run it through the calculator, it takes about a minute.
Part two: the recyclability adjustment
From the 2026/27 fee year, the base fee gets adjusted by how recyclable your packaging is. The government's method for deciding this is called the Recyclability Assessment Methodology, or RAM. It grades packaging red, amber or green.
For 2026/27, green-rated packaging pays 9% less than the base fee and red-rated packaging pays 20% more. The red surcharge then climbs: 60% more in 2027/28, and double the base fee in 2028/29. A red rating that costs you a fifth extra today costs you double in two years, so the earlier you fix it, the more it is worth.
Two things about RAM worth knowing on day one:
- Your worst component sets the rating. A green bottle with a problem label is not a green pack. The worst-rated component drives the aggregate, per RAM guidance.
- Common design choices only push the rating down. Carbon black pigment, opaque PET, PVC elements, full-body sleeves and compostable plastics are all downgrade triggers under RAM v1.1. None of them can improve a rating.
Part three: the Plastic Packaging Tax
Separate from EPR, HMRC charges a tax on plastic packaging components that contain less than 30% recycled plastic. The test is per component, not per pack: a bottle with recycled content and a virgin-plastic cap are assessed separately. The rate is £228.82 per tonne for components produced or imported from 1 April 2026.
The threshold is binary. A component at 30% recycled content pays nothing; the same component at 29% pays the full rate on its whole weight. That cliff edge makes recycled-content decisions unusually consequential.
The drinks-container special case
PET, aluminium and steel drinks containers between 150 mL and 3 L are headed into a separate Deposit Return Scheme from 2027. Containers in DRS scope are treated differently in the disposal-fee system, so if you sell drinks, your numbers follow different rules than the rest of your range.
So what do I actually do?
- Know your pack. Materials, component weights, colours, closures. Most of the fee is decided by facts you can read off a spec sheet or a kitchen scale.
- Get an estimate. The ReNieuw calculator is free while we are in early access: pick your format, adjust the details, and see the fee breakdown with the reasoning behind each line.
- Find the expensive component. Because the worst component drives the RAM rating, one label or closure is often the difference between rating bands. The calculator's comparison view shows what changes when you swap it.
- Verify before you file. Our numbers are estimates built from the published PackUK and HMRC schedules. They are for design decisions and budgeting, not filings. Always check the official sources before you report.
That is the whole system: a material-based fee, a recyclability adjustment that gets sharper every year, and a plastic tax with a hard threshold. Every one of the three responds to design choices, which is the entire reason this site exists. Start with your best-selling pack and see where you stand.