Extended Producer Responsibility | All you need to know

Here is your handy guide to all things Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). Find out what you need to know, including why it’s important, whether it applies to you, timelines, what to do and much more.

Contents

• • What is EPR?
  • Why is EPR important?
  • What is full net cost recovery?
  • What are modulated fees?
  • EPR timeline
  • Why is EPR being implemented?
  • Does EPR affect your business?
  • What data will you need to collect?
  • How much will EPR cost?

  Getting help with EPR

  The implementation of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is imminent and obligated businesses are well advised to begin preparing now.

  Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is a new UK legislation that will replace the current Packaging Waste Regulations with a phased implementation from 2023. It is an environmental policy that requires producers to pay the total cost of dealing with the waste they produce from when it is placed onto the market to the end of its life.

  These new regulations build on the existing Packaging Waste Regulations which have been in place since 1997 and it is hoped that their implementation will achieve a reduction in the environmental impact of products throughout their life cycle. The idea is that if you produce the pollution, then you should pay for the costs of the impact it can have on the environment as well as on people’s health. So, under EPR proposals, packaging producers will be responsible for the entire cost of recycling the household packaging they place on the market including the cost of collection, treatment, and of course recycling.

  What is EPR?

  Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is a policy approach under which producers are given a significant responsibility – financial and/or physical – for the treatment or disposal of products and/or packaging at the end of its life.

  Who invented EPR?                                                                                                    

  It all started with Thomas Lindhqvist in 1990 at Sweden’s Lund University, when he introduced the EPR concept in a report to the Swedish Ministry of the Environment.

  Why is EPR important?

  Designed to divert and reduce waste, EPR closes the loop on materials management, recovering product/packaging waste when the user discards it and reusing it as a raw material to produce a new product or packaging material.

  What is full net cost recovery?

  Full net cost recovery seeks to make obligated producers responsible for the entire cost of recycling the packaging they place on the market; this includes the cost of collection, treatment and recycling. Producers will be required to pay the costs of dealing with packaging waste that arises with the householder and on the go packaging disposed of in street bins.

  This is a fundamental step change away from the existing Packaging Waste Regulations, which requires obligated producers to pay towards ensuring there is enough capacity to meet the recycling targets. Under full net cost recovery obligated producers will see a significant rise in their compliance cost. It is envisioned that the cost of compliance will rise from approximately £350 million to £1.7 billion under the proposed EPR system.

  What are modulated fees?

  A modulated fee system will be introduced from 2025 to provide discounts depending on the environmental impact of the packaging placed on the market. Packaging that can be easily recycled will attract lower EPR fees compared to hard to recycle packaging. This will therefore provide financial incentive for producers to use more sustainable materials in their packaging.

  Government will hopefully confirm the structure of modulated fees next year. Nevertheless, it is clear that less sustainable and hard to recycle materials will incur higher costs, whereas sustainable packaging which is easily recyclable will be rewarded with lower fees.

  EPR timeline