| Who is obligated and thresholds | A person is a producer only if they are established in the UK, fall within a listed class of producer, and carry out the relevant packaging functions in the UK in the course of business, directly or through an agent (regulation 15(1)). A large producer has turnover above £2,000,000 and supplied more than 50 tonnes of packaging in year Y-2 (regulation 24(1)). A small producer has turnover above £1,000,000 and supplied more than 25 tonnes of packaging in year Y-2, and is not a large producer (regulation 24(2)). |
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| Exemptions | Reused packaging is exempt under regulation 11(1)(a), but reused packaging imported into the UK is not covered. Packaging a producer exports from the UK is exempt under regulation 11(1)(b), except where it is exported to a marine installation. Packaging that is a deposit item under a relevant deposit scheme is exempt under regulation 11(1)(c). Exempt packaging is left out when measuring tonnage against the thresholds. |
| Registration (steps and registry) | Schedule 3 sets out the information required for producer registration. It starts with the name, address and telephone number of the producer's habitual residence, or of its registered office, head office or principal place of business. Producers register and report to the environmental regulator for the UK nation in which their organisation is based. Under regulation 129, the appropriate agencies jointly maintain a public register that includes registered producers. |
| Reporting obligations and deadlines | Large producers report under regulation 35. Table 2 sets the data and whether the period is 6 or 12 months. For 6-monthly reporting, the January to June report is due by 1 October and the July to December report by 1 April of the next year. For 12-monthly reporting by large producers, the report for the previous calendar year is due by 1 April each year. Small producers report every 12 months under regulation 36. Reports are due by 1 April each year for the previous calendar year. |
| PROs and compliance schemes | A compliance scheme operator carries out the registration, reporting and recycling obligations that each member producer would otherwise have (regulation 43(3)). A producer that is a scheme member for the whole relevant year is exempt from its own reporting obligations under regulation 25(1)(c). It must give the operator requested information within a reasonable period and pay any membership fee the scheme requires. A compliance scheme must be approved under regulation 47 and registered under regulation 51 for each year it operates, and must have a single scheme operator established in the UK. |
| Penalties | The Regulations provide for criminal offences and civil sanctions, both set out in Part 10. Offences include carrying on business as a producer without required registration (regulation 115(1)(a)) and failing to apply for registration by the applicable date (regulation 115(1)(b)). A fixed monetary penalty is £1,000. The agency must first serve a notice of intent, and the recipient has 28 days from receipt to make representations and objections. |
Under regulation 15(1) of the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024, a person is a producer only if they are established in the United Kingdom, fall within at least one listed class of producer, and carry out the relevant packaging functions in the UK, in the course of business, either themselves or through an agent.
The classes of producer are: brand owner, packer/filler, importer or first UK owner, distributor, online marketplace operator, service provider and seller. Regulations 16 to 22 define each class and specify the packaging for which it is a producer.
A packer/filler is a person who puts goods into packaging. It is a producer for the packaging it fills where, for example, there is no brand owner, or the brand owner is not a large producer.
A distributor is a person who manufactures or imports unfilled packaging and supplies it to another person (regulation 19). It is a producer for that packaging unless the packaging goes to a large producer that fills or packs it before supplying it onward. It is also not a producer where a large producer that is a brand owner, packer/filler or first UK owner becomes the producer once the packaging is filled.
An importer is the person responsible for importing the packaging. If that person is not established in the UK, it is the first UK-established person who takes ownership of the packaging. An importer is a producer for imported packaging that it supplies filled, or discards in the UK, where there is no UK brand owner, where the brand owner is not responsible for the import, or where the brand owner is responsible for the import but is not a large producer.
A first UK owner is the first UK-established person to take ownership in the UK of packaging that was not imported. It is a producer under regulation 18(4) where packaging is packed or filled in the UK for a person not established in the UK, no UK-established person owns it when it is packed or filled, and the filled packaging is supplied to the first UK owner.
An online marketplace operator is the person who controls access to and the contents of the marketplace and is involved in setting sale terms, processing payment and handling ordering or delivery. It is a producer for packaging on items supplied on the marketplace by a non-UK supplier. It is also treated as supplying packaging where the supplier is not established in the UK.
An online marketplace operator is also a producer for packaging that it imports into the UK.
A large producer must satisfy regulation 24(1) in the relevant year (year Y): turnover above £2,000,000 in the last financial year ended before 7 April in year Y-1 with audited accounts available, and more than 50 tonnes of packaging supplied in aggregate in year Y-2.
A small producer must satisfy regulation 24(2) but not be a large producer: turnover above £1,000,000 in the last financial year ended before 7 April in year Y-1 with audited accounts available, and more than 25 tonnes of packaging supplied in aggregate in year Y-2.
For these thresholds, turnover has the meaning in section 539 of the Companies Act 2006, applied to the person concerned as if references to a company were references to that person.
Where a person's status depends on whether another producer is a large producer, evidence held for the year of supply decides the question. Without such evidence, the other producer is treated as large if, in the preceding year, it was registered as a large producer or appeared on a published list of large producers.
A person is a large producer under regulation 24(1) only if both tests are met: turnover above £2,000,000 in the last financial year ended before 7 April in year Y-1 for which audited accounts are available, and more than 50 tonnes of packaging supplied in aggregate in year Y-2.
A person is a small producer under regulation 24(2) only if turnover was above £1,000,000 and more than 25 tonnes of packaging were supplied in year Y-2. A small producer is a person who meets these criteria but is not a large producer.
A business below the small-producer thresholds (£1,000,000 turnover and 25 tonnes of packaging) is neither a large nor a small producer. The registration and record-keeping duties in regulation 25(1) apply to a person who is a large or small producer in the relevant year.
Under regulation 11(1)(a), reused packaging is exempt packaging, but this does not cover reused packaging imported into the United Kingdom.
Under regulation 11(1)(b), packaging the producer exports from the United Kingdom is exempt, including packaging exported through an agent or exported to the producer's reasonable knowledge. Packaging exported to a marine installation is not exempt.
Under regulation 11(1)(c), packaging that is a deposit item under a relevant deposit scheme is exempt. So is packaging that would be a deposit item but for a low volume line exemption.
A low volume line exemption removes certain items from being deposit items. The regulations for a relevant deposit scheme set it out, and it covers a situation in which the count of items of a given description stays at or below a limit that those regulations specify.
When working out whether the tonnage thresholds are met, the amount of packaging supplied is measured in tonnes to the nearest tonne. It counts only packaging supplied in the United Kingdom for which the person was a producer, and it excludes packaging that was exempt packaging when supplied.
A distributor is not a producer for unfilled packaging if a large producer who is a brand owner, packer/filler or first UK owner becomes the producer for that packaging under regulation 16, 17 or 18(4) once it is filled. A distributor is also not a producer for unfilled packaging it supplies to a large producer who fills or packs it before supplying it onward.
A brand owner is not a producer for packaging where a packer/filler is the producer under regulation 17(2)(c), (d) or (e), or where a first UK owner is the producer under regulation 18(4). Nor is it a producer where an importer is the producer under regulation 18(2) for packaging to which regulation 18(3)(b) applies.
A reprocessor must, on and after 1 January 2026, be registered with the appropriate agency separately for each category of packaging waste recycled at each reprocessing site it operates, for any year in which that category is recycled at that site.
A reprocessor must submit a separate application for each category of packaging waste recycled at each reprocessing site it wants registered. Each application must state which recycling operations the registration is to cover.
A reprocessor's application must be made on or before 1 October 2025. If later, it must be made before the end of 28 days starting with the day the reprocessor first recycles that category of packaging waste at that site.
A reprocessor's application must be made in the form and manner the appropriate agency specifies. It must contain the information in paragraphs 1 to 9 of Schedule 8, include a sampling and inspection plan for the site for the agency's approval, and include any other information the agency reasonably requires to determine it.
The charge in paragraph 5(1) of Schedule 1 must be paid for each reprocessor application at the time the application is made. The information supplied must be as accurate as reasonably possible.
Under regulation 86, an exporter must be registered with the appropriate agency from 1 January 2026. Registration is separate for each category of packaging waste exported for recycling, and it applies for any year in which that category is exported.
An exporter applies separately for each category of packaging waste. The deadline is on or before 1 October 2025, or if later, before the end of 28 days starting with the day it first exports that category. The application must contain the information in paragraphs 10 to 18 of Schedule 8 and include a sampling and inspection plan for the agency's approval.
For producer registration, Schedule 3 sets out the required information. It starts with the name, address and telephone number of the producer's place of habitual residence, or of its registered office, head office or principal place of business.
The authority that receives the application is the "appropriate agency". For a reprocessor, it is the agency for the UK nation where each reprocessing site is located. For a producer, scheme operator or exporter, it is the agency for the nation of its registered office, head office or principal place of business.
A person with no registered office, head office or principal place of business in the UK may have given a notice under regulation 3(3) of the 2023 Data Regulations naming a nation. If so, the agency for that nation applies. Otherwise the person elects the Environment Agency, SEPA, NRW or DAERA by written notice, and that election cannot be changed.
Under regulation 129, the appropriate agencies jointly maintain a public register. It covers registered producers, approved and registered compliance schemes, and registered and accredited reprocessors and exporters. It must be searchable and open to online inspection, and it records each registrant's name and address and the number assigned on registration.
Large producers must report to the appropriate agency under regulation 35 of the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024. The data to be reported, and whether the reporting period is 6 or 12 months, depend on the producer's class and the packaging concerned, as set out in Table 2.
Where Table 2 sets a 6-monthly reporting period, the report for 1 January to 30 June is due on or before 1 October of that year. The report for 1 July to 31 December is due on or before 1 April of the following year.
Where Table 2 sets a 12-monthly reporting period, the report for the previous calendar year is due on or before 1 April each year.
Small producers must report to the appropriate agency every 12 months under regulation 36. The data required depends on the producer's class, as set out in Table 3. Reports are due on or before 1 April each year for the previous calendar year. The first was due on or before 1 April 2025, for calendar year 2024.
A liable producer for the purposes of Part 5 must report the results of its recyclability assessments of the household packaging it supplies to the appropriate agency every 6 months (regulation 37). The report for 1 January to 30 June is due on or before 1 October of that year, and the report for 1 July to 31 December is due on or before 1 April of the following year. The first was due on or before 1 October 2025, for 1 January to 30 June 2025.
Large and small producers that are sellers and supply plastic or paper bags in England must report the information specified in paragraph 14 of Schedule 4 to the Environment Agency (regulation 38). Reports are due on or before 1 April each year for the previous calendar year. The first was due on or before 1 April 2026, for 1 January to 31 December 2025.
Under regulation 39(2), every report must be as accurate as reasonably possible and verified by the signature of an approved person of the producer. It must also be submitted in the form the relevant agency specifies.
A producer that discovers an error in a report it has submitted must submit an amended report with the correct information. It must also pay the charge in paragraph 2(3) of Schedule 1 for resubmitting a report.
The reporting duties in regulations 35 to 38 are subject to regulation 42(2)(a) (effect of compliance scheme membership) and paragraph 5 of Schedule 9 (effect of group registration).
Producers continue to report their packaging data through the RPD online portal. Large producers were told to report their data for the first half of 2025 by 1 October 2025.
For reports submitted in relation to 2025, 2026 and 2027, sellers of secondary packaging, or of tertiary packaging other than shipment packaging, may estimate the amount supplied to each UK nation. Importers of those packaging types may likewise estimate the amount discarded in each nation.
Under the Environment Act 2021, Schedule 4, a "compliance scheme" is a scheme in which the scheme operator discharges the members' producer responsibility obligations on their behalf.
Schedule 4 of the Environment Act 2021 allows regulations to authorise or require persons subject to a producer responsibility obligation to become members of a compliance scheme.
Under regulation 43(1) of the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024, a compliance scheme must be approved under regulation 47 and registered under regulation 51 for each year it operates.
Under regulation 43(2), each compliance scheme must have a single scheme operator, and that operator must be a person established in the United Kingdom.
Under regulation 43(3), the scheme operator carries out the registration, reporting and recycling obligations that each member producer would otherwise have had, as set out in regulations 25(1)(a), 25(1)(c) and (d), and 25(2)(a) and 40.
Under regulation 43(6), the scheme operator must keep records and submit reports to the appropriate agency under regulation 55. It must also submit an annual statement of compliance under regulation 56.
A producer that is a member of, or applying to join, a compliance scheme must give the scheme operator the information the operator needs for the scheme's registration application, for carrying out the producer's obligations, and for the operator's own record-keeping and reporting duties (regulation 45).
Information a producer gives to a scheme operator under regulation 45 must be verified by the signature of the producer's approved person and be as accurate as reasonably possible.
Under regulation 42, a producer that is a scheme member for the whole relevant year is exempt from its own reporting obligations under regulation 25(1)(c), provided it meets two conditions. It must give the operator any reasonably requested information within a reasonable period, and it must pay any membership fee the scheme requires.
Where a producer joins a compliance scheme part-way through a year, the scheme operator must carry out the whole of that producer's relevant obligations for that year (regulation 46(1)).
Where a producer leaves a scheme during a year, it must comply with all of its producer responsibility obligations for that year itself, unless it joins another scheme. If it moves to a second scheme, the first scheme's operator has no duty for that year and the second scheme's operator carries out the whole of the obligations (regulation 46(2) and (3)).
The scheme operator applies in writing to the appropriate agency for approval of a scheme. The application must include a sample of the contract between the operator and members and any rules members must observe. It must also give each member's turnover and tonnage of packaging supplied, and the member's main packaging function.
Under the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024, breaches can be met with criminal offences or with civil sanctions; both are set out in Part 10.
Offences in Part 10 include a producer carrying on business as a producer without being registered when registration is required (regulation 115(1)(a)), and a producer failing to apply to the appropriate agency for registration by the applicable date (regulation 115(1)(b)).
On summary conviction, an offence under the Regulations is punishable by a fine in England and Wales. In Scotland or Northern Ireland the fine may not exceed the statutory maximum.
Where a company, partnership or unincorporated association commits an offence with the consent or connivance of, or through neglect by, a relevant individual such as a director, manager or secretary, that individual also commits the offence and can be prosecuted and punished (regulation 120(1)).
If an offence is due to the act or default of another person, that other person is also guilty and can be punished, whether or not the first person is prosecuted (regulation 120(2)).
Civil sanctions under regulation 121 and Schedule 13 include fixed monetary penalties, variable monetary penalties, compliance notices and enforcement undertakings. Which of these is available depends on the requirement breached.
A fixed monetary penalty is £1,000. It cannot be imposed more than once for the same act or omission unless that act or omission is continuing.
Before imposing a fixed monetary penalty, the enforcement agency must serve a notice of intent. The recipient then has 28 days from receipt to make representations and objections. If the penalty is not paid within that period, the agency may serve a final notice imposing it after considering any representations.
A variable monetary penalty is a penalty of an amount determined by the enforcement agency.
A compliance notice requires a person to take specified steps within a specified time so that a contravention does not occur, continue or recur.
Under Schedule 13, failure to meet the producer recycling obligation (regulation 25(2)(a)) can attract a variable monetary penalty, a compliance notice or an enforcement undertaking. Failure to keep records and evidence (regulation 25(1)(b)) attracts a fixed monetary penalty only.
The scheme administrator is the enforcement agency for civil sanctions imposed for failing to pay disposal or administration fees within 50 days after the due date. The appropriate agency is the enforcement agency for the other civil sanctions in the table.
S.I. 2025/1369, the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) (Amendment) Regulations 2025, changes the 2024 Regulations. It took effect on 1 January 2026.
Large producers that reported supplying packaging in the fibre-based composite material category, the paper or board category, or both, for the six months ending 30 June 2025 may submit an amended report for that period. They may use the definitions in regulation 7(5A) of the 2024 Regulations, as inserted by S.I. 2025/1369.
A large producer that reported recycled relevant packaging waste under paragraph 12 of Schedule 4 for the six months ending 30 June 2025, but lacks evidence that all of it was recycled, must submit an amended report. The amended report must leave out any waste for which there is no recycling evidence.
Amended reports under these transitional provisions, whether to revise the fibre-based composite and paper or board figures or to remove waste without recycling evidence, must reach the appropriate agency by 1 April 2026.
A producer that misses the 1 April 2026 deadline for the amended report removing unevidenced recycled waste is treated as having breached a reporting obligation under regulation 35 of the 2024 Regulations. That brings the failure within Parts 9 and 10 of those Regulations.
The resubmission charge in paragraph 2(3) of Schedule 1 to the 2024 Regulations applies when a report is amended to redetermine the fibre-based composite and paper or board amounts. The charge in paragraph 3(3) applies instead where a scheme operator resubmits the report. No charge applies if the report is amended only to remove packaging waste lacking recycling evidence.
For reports covering a period of 6 or 12 months ending on 31 December 2025, a large producer may choose which meaning to use for the fibre-based composite material and paper or board packaging categories. It can use the new meanings in regulation 7(5A) or the meanings from before S.I. 2025/1369.
A person counts as established in the United Kingdom if they are habitually resident there, or if their registered office (or, without one, their head office or principal place of business) is there. Having a branch or postal address in the United Kingdom also counts, except for Part 6 (reprocessors and exporters). This is the test under regulation 4 for whether a seller is outside the jurisdiction.
A person is a producer only if they perform the specified packaging functions in the United Kingdom, in the course of business, either themselves or through an agent acting on their behalf. An overseas business can therefore carry out those functions through an agent.
Under regulation 20, an online marketplace operator is the person who controls access to the marketplace and its contents and is involved in setting sale terms, processing or facilitating payment, and ordering or delivery. Control alone is not enough; all three involvements are required.
An online marketplace operator is a producer for packaging on items that a non-UK supplier supplies on the marketplace and that are received in the United Kingdom. This is the main marketplace liability for sales by overseas sellers.
An online marketplace operator is also a producer for unfilled packaging supplied on the marketplace by a non-UK supplier to a business that is not a large producer acting as brand owner, packer/filler or first UK owner, where the packaging is received in the United Kingdom. The operator is not a producer for that unfilled packaging if a large producer that is a brand owner, packer/filler or first UK owner is the producer once the packaging is filled.
A "non-UK supplier" is a person who supplies goods on an online marketplace in the course of business and is not established in the United Kingdom.
If someone who is not established in the United Kingdom supplies packaging through an online marketplace, regulation 10(5) treats the operator of that marketplace as the supplier of the packaging.
Packaging imported into the United Kingdom by an online marketplace operator is covered by the same provision as importer imports. An importer is not covered where it is acting as an agent for the brand owner.
Where a brand is owned by a body corporate not established in the United Kingdom and that body is in a corporate group, a group member established in the United Kingdom that supplies filled packaging bearing the brand is a brand owner. That UK group member is a producer for that packaging.
A first UK owner is a producer where packaging is packed or filled in the United Kingdom on behalf of a person not established in the United Kingdom, no UK-established person owns it at the time of filling, and the filled packaging is supplied to the first UK owner.
A seller who supplies filled packaging to a final user, and who is not a service provider, is a producer for that packaging under regulation 22. The final user is the person who last uses the packaging to contain, protect, handle, deliver or present the goods.
A person is established in the UK if they are habitually resident there, or if their registered office is there. Without a registered office, their head office or principal place of business counts. A branch or postal address in the UK also counts, except for Part 6, which covers reprocessors and exporters.
An online marketplace operator is a producer for packaging on items that a non-UK supplier supplies on the marketplace and that are received in the UK. Where a supply of packaging is made on an online marketplace by a person not established in the UK, the online marketplace operator is treated as supplying that packaging (regulation 10(5)). A marketplace operator is also a producer for packaging that it imports into the UK.
If a producer joins a scheme part-way through a year, the scheme operator must carry out the whole of that producer's relevant obligations for that year (regulation 46(1)). Where a producer ceases to be a member of a compliance scheme during a relevant year, it must comply with the whole of its producer responsibility obligations for that year, subject to the rules for producers who move to another compliance scheme (regulation 46).
Submit an amended report with the correct information and pay the charge in paragraph 2(3) of Schedule 1 for resubmitting a report. Every report must be as accurate as reasonably possible and verified by the signature of an approved person of the producer.
For reports submitted in relation to 2025, 2026 and 2027, sellers of secondary packaging, or of tertiary packaging other than shipment packaging, may estimate the amount supplied to each UK nation. Importers of those packaging types may likewise estimate the amount discarded in each nation.
S.I. 2025/1369 amended the 2024 Regulations (the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024) with effect from 1 January 2026. For reports covering a period of 6 or 12 months ending on 31 December 2025, a large producer may choose between the new meanings in regulation 7(5A) and the earlier meanings for the fibre-based composite material and paper or board categories.
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This guide is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. It summarises the official legal texts listed above as of the "last verified" date; obligations may have changed since. Check the official sources or consult a qualified professional before making compliance decisions.
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