UK ministers have signed off fresh amendments to the UK’s packaging Extended Producer Responsibility regime. Made on 17 December 2025 and in force from 1 January 2026, the statutory instrument applies across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and tightens how producers register, report and pay, while codifying rules for mergers, acquisitions and brand transfers. It is signed by Mary Creagh, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at DEFRA.

The legal pivot is who pays and when. A person becomes a liable producer for an assessment year if they were a producer during that year, were a large producer in the prior calendar year, and in that prior year operated as a brand owner, packer/filler, importer/first UK owner, distributor, online marketplace operator or service provider supplying household packaging. For finance teams, that means checking the large‑producer tests used in EPR-turnover above £2m and packaging placed on the UK market above 50 tonnes-alongside role and timing tests.

Headline charges move up. Schedule 1 lifts key fees including large‑producer registration lines to £2,842 and £2,885 on specified routes, smaller lines to £1,303, with component charges rising to £690 and £172. Group‑related charges increase to £807 and the common ancillary charge rises to £386. Compliance scheme fees step up to £8,691 for operators, £14,702 for membership, and £512 for applications. Reprocessor/exporter registration rises to £3,228, £574 and £1,571 respectively, with accreditation bands now £328 to £3,965. Budgeting for 2026 needs these numbers baked into Q1 cash forecasts.

A new closed‑loop offset is the biggest lever on disposal fees. Producers may off‑set household packaging waste where it meets the new “closed loop packaging waste” definition and is recycled into food‑grade plastic. Access to the credit is gated by an additional £2,548 annual registration charge per large producer (or per producer via a scheme). If the add‑on is not paid, the scheme administrator must ignore any closed‑loop weight when calculating fees.

Closed‑loop status is narrow by design. The waste must be food‑grade plastic packaging that became waste after being supplied on or after 1 January 2024, collected directly from the consumer by or on behalf of the same producer, kept separate from other materials except identical waste from that producer, and sent to a single reprocessor. Evidence must come from an accredited reprocessor or exporter. Mixing reprocessors in a period generally voids aggregation, with a limited allowance if you switch mid‑period.

The fee maths also tightens. For disposal fee calculations, off‑sets cannot push the credit beyond the amount of household packaging you reported for the base year; if the reported closed‑loop weight exceeds that, the relevant component is set to zero. The scheme administrator can estimate data where a late‑identified liable producer has not reported and can levy interest from the date the payment would have fallen due. The default look‑back window is four years, stretching to ten where non‑compliance blocked timely assessment.

Packaging design choices now bear directly on bill size. Modulation gains expand to recognise whether the amount of material used is no more than reasonably necessary for the packaging’s purpose. In short: right‑weighting and eliminating avoidable components will increasingly matter for 2026 charges and beyond.

Corporate activity gets explicit treatment. On a merger, the combined body is treated as large if any merging entity was large in the merger year, must register on an accelerated timetable, and inherits continuing and unmet obligations from all merged producers. Pre‑merger PRNs/PERNs can transfer to the new company to meet inherited recycling obligations, and disposal/administration fees for the assessment year starting 1 April in the merger year may become payable by the combined body.

Brand and business transfers are no longer a grey area. Where a brand or business line changes hands, the buyer must notify the agency within 28 days and register or re‑register promptly. For the transfer year and the following two years, the buyer is treated as large if, after adjusting for the acquired brand/business, turnover exceeds £2m and packaging supplied exceeded 50 tonnes. The seller’s recycling obligations for the acquired line cease; they move to the buyer.

Data duties ramp up around transfers. Both seller and buyer must submit-or resubmit-data for the half‑years ending 30 June and 31 December in the transfer year and the previous year, with a hard 28‑day resubmission window from completion if that falls later than the normal deadline. Crucially, packaging supplied pre‑completion with the acquired brand is treated as if supplied by the buyer for those resubmitted reports, altering fee allocations and target tracking.

Definitions also shift in a way that will move tonnage between categories. Fibre‑based composite material now covers paperboard or paper fibres laminated with one or more plastic layers that cannot be hand‑separated. “Paper or board” may include these multi‑layer packs where plastic is 5% or less by mass and the producer can evidence it. For 2025 year‑end reporting, producers may elect to use either the old or new category meanings for fibre‑based composite and paper/board, but from 2026 the new test applies.

Record‑keeping extends to seven years for both data and evidential support. Producers reporting closed‑loop activity must retain proof of quantities collected, proof that the waste meets the closed‑loop definition, and proof that it was recycled into food‑grade plastic materials or articles. Evidence must be sourced from accredited reprocessors/exporters, and agencies can now share information with the scheme administrator and any appointed Producer Responsibility Organisation.

Deposit return interactions are tidied up. Packaging that is, or would be, a deposit‑scheme item is exempt from EPR obligations, including items that only miss inclusion under a specified low‑volume line exemption. That matters for beverage lines planning UK‑wide DRS launches over the next two years and should be reflected in 2026 EPR position models.

Charities shift from full exemption to targeted relief. Charities remain exempt from producer obligations and annual fees, but charity reprocessors and exporters must register by 1 January 2027; operating unregistered becomes an offence only from that date. That gives not‑for‑profit recyclers a 2026 runway to formal registration.

Transitional windows are short and charged. Large producers can amend earlier reports: half‑years to 30 June and 31 December 2024 and 30 June 2025 may be resubmitted to count eligible material as relevant packaging waste; most amendments must be filed by 28 January 2026 or 1 April 2026 depending on period. A £2,548 charge applies if you submit amended 2024/25 reports or include qualifying material in 31 December 2025 data as relevant packaging waste. Producers seeking closed‑loop credits in 2026 must also pay the £2,548 add‑on by 28 January 2026 if they applied for 2026 registration before the amendments took effect.

Governance of the system itself evolves. The scheme administrator (currently government or a statutory body) may appoint one or more not‑for‑profit Producer Responsibility Organisations to run specified functions, subject to approvals. Appointments can be revoked for defined failings, and data, contracts and IT assets necessary to sustain the scheme can transfer to a successor. Information sharing between agencies, the administrator and PROs is expressly permitted to keep performance and enforcement joined up.

For SMEs and mid‑caps, the practical to‑do list is clear. Recut 2026 cashflows for higher registration and accreditation fees; decide quickly whether the £2,548 closed‑loop add‑on will pay for itself; refresh packaging specs to capture modulation gains; and build M&A and brand‑licensing clauses that hardwire 28‑day notifications, data resubmissions, PRN/PERN transfers and fee allocations. Above all, tighten evidence chains-seven years is a long audit trail, and late assessment with interest is now a defined risk window of up to ten years for non‑compliance.

The instrument was made on 17 December 2025 and comes into force on 1 January 2026. The measures apply UK‑wide and carry immediate planning consequences for reporting periods ending 30 June and 31 December, and for the assessment year starting 1 April. Teams should align internal calendars and controls now to avoid interest and enforcement later.