Major changes to UK packaging laws come into force

New packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) laws which were phased in during 2024 have now come into force.

The new EPR laws will hold businesses accountable for the full lifecycle of the packaging materials they use. Any business that uses, generates, or imports packaging materials will be required to cover the costs of sorting and recycling the packaging waste.

The UK government’s Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra) also published a Recyclability Assessment Methodology (RAM) on December 23^rd, 2024.

Producers are now required to apply the methodology for packaging placed on the market from January 1^st 2025, with the first reporting deadline being October 1^st 2025.

The RAM introduced by Defra, which is accessible on the Gov.uk website, enables large packaging producers to assess the recyclability of their packaging and produce a red/amber/green output, designed to inform them of the fees associated with their packaging waste.

According to Defra, the RAM “has been developed in close collaboration with stakeholders from across the value chain and reflects the recyclability of packaging materials in the UK today”.

The EPR packaging fees associated with the new laws had been deferred for a year, meaning that companies did not have to pay any fees in 2024. However, companies will now be required to pay any related fees in 2025 based on 2024 data.

In December, the UK government also reversed a mandatory takeback scheme for single-use cups introduced by the previous Conservative government, citing limited environmental benefits and high costs.

The takeback scheme was backed by companies across the UK retail and packaging industries but was already delayed, having originally been planned to come into effect in 2024.

Defra claimed that the scheme would have cost £52m to implement while achieving limited environmental improvements.