pEPR Questions Answered

What is packaging EPR (pEPR) in the UK?

Packaging extended producer responsibility (pEPR) is the UK scheme that makes businesses pay for the household waste their packaging turns into. It started in 2025 and covers England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. PackUK, part of Defra, runs it and collects the fees.

Large producers pay a yearly waste disposal fee for every tonne of household packaging they put on the UK market. The rate depends on the material and, from 2026/27, on how recyclable each part is. Large producers also still have recycling obligations, which they meet by buying packaging waste recycling notes (PRNs).

Source: GOV.UK, Check if you must comply with EPR for packaging ↗︎

Do I have to pay pEPR fees?

You pay pEPR fees only if you’re a large producer, which means both of these were true in the previous year:

• –your annual turnover was more than £2 million
• –you supplied or imported more than 50 tonnes of packaging in the UK

Small producers have a turnover of £1 million or more and more than 25 tonnes of packaging, but don’t pass both large producer limits. They register and report their packaging data but don’t pay the fee. Below 25 tonnes or £1 million turnover, you have no obligation at all.

For 2026 reporting, count the packaging you supplied or imported between 1 January and 31 December 2025.

Source: GOV.UK, Check if you must comply with EPR for packaging ↗︎

Who counts as a packaging producer?

A packaging producer is a UK business that does any of these with packaging:

• –supplies filled packaging under its own brand
• –packs or fills goods into packaging
• –imports goods in packaging
• –makes or imports empty packaging and supplies it
• –hires or loans out reusable packaging
• –runs an online marketplace where packaging is supplied in the UK from outside it
• –sells filled packaging to the end user

Packaging is only counted once. If you pack or import goods for a large producer and the packaging carries their brand, the brand owner reports it, not you. A brand owner is still the producer when another business imports or packs its branded packaging for it.

Being a producer doesn’t mean you pay. Only large producers, with a turnover over £2 million and more than 50 tonnes of packaging, pay the fee.

Source: GOV.UK, Check if you must comply with EPR for packaging ↗︎

How are pEPR fees calculated?

pEPR fees are charged by weight. For each part of your packaging, take its weight, multiply by the number of units you put on the UK market as household packaging in a year, then multiply by the rate for its material.

In 2025/26 the rate depends only on the material:

From 2026/27 each material has three rates, one for each recyclability rating: Green, Amber or Red. Here’s what that means for the same packaging. 100 tonnes of household plastic packaging costs £42,300 in 2025/26. Under the illustrative 2026/27 rates it costs £41,500 if it’s rated Green, and £54,500 if it’s rated Red.

Source: Defra, EPR for packaging: 2025 base fees ↗︎

What are the pEPR fee rates for 2026/27?

PackUK published illustrative rates in December 2025. They’re the best guide there is, but they aren’t final. The confirmed fees are due by the end of November 2026, and we’ll update this answer when they’re out.

For every material, Red costs about a third more than Green.

Source: PackUK, Year 2 illustrative waste disposal fees ↗︎

What is a RAM rating, and how do Green, Amber and Red change my fee?

RAM is the Recyclability Assessment Methodology, the government’s test of how recyclable packaging is. It rates each part of your packaging Green, Amber or Red. It asks whether the part can be collected from households, sorted, and reprocessed into material someone can use. A part is only as good as its weakest step.

Common reasons a part ends up Amber or Red:

• –black plastic, which sorting machines can’t detect
• –an opaque sleeve that covers the whole bottle
• –PVC
• –compostable plastic
• –paper laminated on both sides

From 2026/27 the rating sets the rate you pay for that part, and Red costs about a third more than Green for the same material. RAM version 1.1 applies up to the 2026 reporting year, and RAM 2027 applies from 2027.

Source: PackUK, RAM 2027 overview ↗︎

When does the RAM rating start to affect what I pay?

The RAM rating starts to change your fee in 2026/27. In 2025/26 everyone pays one flat rate per material, so your rating doesn’t change the fee. In 2026/27, a Red part costs about a third more than the same part rated Green. Under PackUK’s illustrative rates, Red plastic costs £545 a tonne and Green plastic £415.

Red gets dearer each year after that. PackUK has set the Red rate at 1.2 times the Amber rate in 2026/27, 1.6 times in 2027/28 and twice the Amber rate in 2028/29.

Source: PackUK, producer disposal fees modulation statement ↗︎

What happens if I don’t do a RAM assessment?

A part you can’t show evidence for is rated Red automatically. GOV.UK’s guidance says you must assess all the packaging you’re obligated for, and that a household packaging unit or part without evidence “is an automatic red”.

From 2026/27 Red is the most expensive rating: about a third more than Green, and more again from 2027/28.

Source: GOV.UK, RAM supplementary guidance ↗︎

Does packaging that only goes to businesses pay pEPR fees?

Packaging that only goes to businesses pays no waste disposal fee. The fee only applies to household packaging. Large producers still have to report business-only packaging, though, and it still counts towards their recycling obligations.

Shipping boxes catch people out. A box that ends up at someone’s home, like an online order, counts as household packaging, and it pays.

Source: GOV.UK, Check if you must comply with EPR for packaging ↗︎

Do drinks containers in the deposit return scheme pay pEPR fees?

Single-use drinks bottles and cans that fall within the deposit return scheme pay no pEPR waste disposal fee, in 2025/26 or 2026/27. That covers bottles made mainly of PET plastic and cans made mainly of aluminium or steel, from 150 millilitres to 3 litres.

Two things to watch. Glass drinks bottles aren’t in the scheme, so they still pay. And a plastic bottle that pays no pEPR fee can still owe plastic packaging tax.

Source: Defra, EPR for packaging: 2025 base fees ↗︎

Does recycled content lower my pEPR fee?

Recycled content doesn’t lower your pEPR fee, because it doesn’t change your RAM rating. What changes the rating is design: colour, labels and sleeves, and whether the parts come apart.

Recycled content does lower the plastic packaging tax. A plastic part with at least 30% recycled plastic pays no tax.

What’s the difference between pEPR and the plastic packaging tax?

pEPR fees and the plastic packaging tax are two separate charges, and you can owe both on the same packaging.

Source: HMRC, Plastic Packaging Tax: steps to take ↗︎

How can I lower my pEPR fees?

There are four ways to lower a pEPR fee, roughly in order of how much they usually move the number:

1. 1.Get each part to Green. From 2026/27, Red costs about a third more than Green for the same material.
2. 2.Use less material. The fee is charged by weight, so a lighter part costs less.
3. 3.Compare materials on the total, not the rate. Plastic costs £423 a tonne in 2025/26 and paper and card £196, but switching usually changes the weight too.
4. 4.Check what’s really household packaging. Packaging that never reaches a home pays no fee.

For the plastic packaging tax, get each plastic part to at least 30% recycled plastic.

This is the question PeprCheck was built for: change one thing about a design and see what happens to the fee.

What is PeprCheck, and who is it for?

PeprCheck is a UK pEPR fee calculator that shows what each part of your packaging will cost and which design changes would lower it.

It’s for the person at a brand owner or importer who gets asked “what will this packaging cost us in pEPR fees?”. That’s usually a packaging technologist, a buyer, or a compliance or sustainability lead. You describe the packaging part by part, or start from a photo or a spec sheet. PeprCheck estimates the yearly pEPR fee, each part’s RAM rating and any plastic packaging tax. You don’t need to know a part’s RAM rating to start, because PeprCheck works it out.

Where do PeprCheck’s numbers come from, and how accurate are they?

PeprCheck’s numbers come only from published sources:

• –Defra’s confirmed 2025/26 base fees (June 2025)
• –PackUK’s illustrative 2026/27 rates (December 2025)
• –RAM version 1.1 and RAM 2027
• –HMRC’s plastic packaging tax rates

When the confirmed 2026/27 fees come out, we’ll switch to them once we’ve checked them.

How close the estimate gets depends mostly on what you put in: the weights, the materials and how many units you sell. The RAM rating is our reading of the published methodology. Every result lists the open questions that could still change it, and how much each one could move the fee.

Use PeprCheck to budget, plan and compare packaging designs. The figures aren’t suitable for reports to regulators or for checking invoices, and they aren’t legal or tax advice.

Is PeprCheck a compliance scheme?

PeprCheck isn’t a compliance scheme. It’s a pEPR fee calculator, and you can use it alongside one.

A compliance scheme, such as Valpak or Ecosurety, registers you with the regulator, reports your packaging data and meets your recycling obligations. PeprCheck answers an earlier question: what a packaging design will cost in pEPR fees, and what a different design would cost, before you commit to either.

Source: GOV.UK, Register of packaging compliance schemes ↗︎

How is PeprCheck different from a spreadsheet or other pEPR calculators?

PeprCheck starts from the packaging itself, part by part, and works out each part’s RAM rating for you. Many pEPR calculators start from your total tonnes of each material and leave the RAM rating to you.

A spreadsheet works until the rates change, or until someone has to apply the RAM rules to a new design. Then whoever owns it has to read the new guidance and rebuild it. PeprCheck keeps the rates and RAM rules current for you.

Can I compare two packaging designs?

PeprCheck compares two packaging designs side by side. You’ll see the pEPR fee, RAM rating and plastic packaging tax for each, and where the difference comes from, part by part. You can export the comparison as a PDF.

What doesn’t PeprCheck do?

• –PeprCheck can’t tell you whether you’re obligated, because it doesn’t see your turnover or total tonnage.
• –It doesn’t cover PRNs or what your compliance scheme charges.
• –Its figures aren’t for reports to regulators or for checking invoices.
• –It covers the UK only.
• –It isn’t legal or tax advice.

Does PeprCheck cover the EU’s PPWR?

PeprCheck doesn’t cover the PPWR yet. The PPWR is the EU’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, and it matters if you sell packaged goods into the EU. It will grade how recyclable each piece of packaging is, but the EU hasn’t yet published how that grade is worked out. Until it does, any grade would be a guess, so we don’t offer one.

When the method is published, we expect to add PPWR support.

Source: EUR-Lex, Regulation (EU) 2025/40 on packaging and packaging waste ↗︎

Is my packaging data private?

Your saved designs are visible only to your account and to us, the people who run PeprCheck. We don’t sell data, we don’t use advertising or tracking pixels, and we share data with others only if the law requires it. Our database is hosted in Ireland. The full details are in our privacy notice.

How much does PeprCheck cost, and how do I get access?

PeprCheck is free during early access. For now it’s invite only, while a small group tries it first. Request an invite with your work email and we’ll get back to you personally.