EPR Scheme Administrator to publish final base fees in June

A joint statement from the four UK nations has announced the extended producer responsibility (EPR) base fees for 2025/26 will be published by June 2025.

The policy statement was made jointly by the Environment Secretary, and Ministers in the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs of Northern Ireland (DAERA) in Northern Ireland, Scottish Government and Welsh Government.

The policy statement outlines the environmental effects the four nations want EPR to achieve.

These are:

• The use of environmentally sustainable packaging;
• the prevention of packaging becoming waste;
• an increase in the reuse of packaging, and the quantity and quality of packaging materials recycled;
• a reduction in the packaging material placed on the market.

In the policy statement, the four nations said they expect PackUK, the EPR scheme administrator, to publish its first policy statement alongside its strategy, no later than June 2025.

The four nations said the first policy statement should drive producers to use household packaging that is easier to recycle or reuse.

The statement said that an estimate of payments that will be made to local authorities must be provided “as soon as reasonably practicable” for the 2025 assessment year.

For subsequent years, the Scheme Administrator must provide an estimate of payments no later than 1 November 2025 ahead of that assessment year, the four nations said.

PackUK is required to set out how it will measure and report on the delivery of its objectives and outcomes. The key performance indicators it will apply will be set out in its yearly Operational Plan.

The four nations said they will monitor the scheme administrator’s performance through PackUK’s annual report, which is due by 30 September 2026 for year one of EPR for packaging and each year thereafter.

Packaging recycling targets 2025 to 2027