A new tax you may not yet have heard of starts soon may put up some prices

30th June 2025

2025 base fees for the pEPR scheme - will this put up prices for end consumers.

The 2025 pEPR fees are poised to have a noticeable impact on beer packaged in glass bottles, especially the popular 330ml format.

🍺 Estimated cost increase per bottle
A 330ml glass beer bottle will carry a pEPR fee of around 5p.

Once supply chain margins and VAT are added, the retail price could rise by at least 10p per bottle.

Larger bottles (e.g. 500ml or 750ml) will see proportionally higher increases.

📉 Competitive disadvantage for glass
Glass packaging fees are estimated to be up to 49 times higher than those for lighter, less recyclable materials like plastic.

This creates a cost incentive for brewers to switch to cans or plastic, even though glass is 100% and infinitely recyclable.

🏭 Industry and environmental concerns
The British Beer and Pub Association warns that these fees will "inevitably" lead to price increases for consumers.

British Glass argues the weight-based fee structure unfairly penalizes glass and could lead to:

Job losses in the UK glass sector

Increased imports of cheaper foreign glass packaging

A shift toward less sustainable packaging1

What could change?
DEFRA has acknowledged the concerns and is still refining the fee methodology for glass, suggesting that adjustments may come before the final rates are confirmed in July 2025.

The 2025 base fees for the Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (pEPR) scheme are likely to result in higher prices for end consumers, particularly for products packaged in heavier or more costly materials like glass.

What are the 2025 pEPR base fees?
DEFRA has released the third iteration of illustrative base fees for packaging materials, which producers will begin paying from April 2025. These fees are charged per tonne of packaging material and are intended to cover the costs of waste collection, treatment, and disposal. Here's a snapshot of the current illustrative rates:

Material Fee (£/tonne)
Aluminium £435
Fibre-based composite £455
Glass £240
Paper or board £215
Plastic £485
Steel £305
Wood £320
Other (e.g. bamboo, rubber) £280

These are not final—the confirmed fees will be published in July 2025, based on 2024 producer data.

Will this affect consumer prices?
Yes, especially for glass-packaged products. Here's why:

Glass packaging is heavier, so the per-unit cost is higher. British Glass estimates that a 330ml glass beer bottle could see a price increase of at least 10p once pEPR fees, supply chain margins, and VAT are factored in4.

Plastic and metal containers, which are lighter and often excluded under the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), will face minimal or no pEPR fees until at least 2027.

This could lead to material switching—brands may opt for cheaper, less recyclable packaging to avoid higher fees, potentially undermining sustainability goals.

Broader implications
Increased imports: Cheaper imported glass packaging may absorb the pEPR cost better than UK-made glass, threatening domestic production.

Environmental trade-offs: While the scheme aims to promote recyclability, the weight-based fee structure may unintentionally favour less sustainable materials like plastic.

PackUK has published the 2025 base fees for the Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging (pEPR) scheme, providing crucial certainty to producers ahead of the first invoices in October 2025. 

Following three previous illustrative publications of estimated fees, these confirmed base fees represent a significant milestone in the implementation of the UK's circular economy transition. 

Nearly all fees have reduced compared with the illustrative base fees published in December, with glass down by 20 per cent. The reductions result from high levels of industry compliance with reporting obligations and extensive work across the regulators and PackUK to assure and validate the data provided. The 2025 base fees are calculated using packaging tonnages reported by producers for 2024 and local authority waste management costs. The methodology has been rigorously tested with stakeholders including producers, compliance schemes, and local authorities. 

Alongside the confirmed base fees, PackUK has also published the Modulation Policy Statement, which outlines how fees will be adjusted from 2026 onwards to incentivise the use of more recyclable packaging. 

The pEPR scheme forms the cornerstone of the UK's packaging reforms, which the leaders of the UK’s largest waste management companies have said will support 25,000 jobs, stimulate more than £10 billion investment in recycling capability over the next decade and fund improvements to household recycling services across the UK. 

Producers can access further guidance on the gov.uk website to understand how these fees will affect their businesses.

PackUK will hold a Base Fees themed webinar on Thursday 10 July 2025 - You can sign-up to register your attendance. 

Fee Modulation Policy Statement
PackUK has published its first Producer Fee Modulation Policy Statement for the Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging (pEPR) scheme. This policy represents a significant step forward in incentivising the use of environmentally sustainable packaging across the UK. 

The new modulation policy establishes a clear three-year framework that will adjust producer fees based on packaging recyclability, as assessed through the Recyclability Assessment Methodology (RAM) ratings. Starting from the 2026/27 financial year, the policy will apply escalating modulation factors of 1.2x, 1.6x, and 2.0x over consecutive years. 

What this means in practice: 

producers of RAM Green-rated (highly recyclable) packaging will benefit from steadily decreasing fees 

producers of RAM Red-rated (poorly recyclable) packaging will face progressively higher fees 

special provisions apply for medical packaging where regulatory requirements limit recyclability options 

This approach maintains the total revenue generated by pEPR fees while creating meaningful financial incentives for producers to switch to more recyclable packaging options. By setting out a three-year plan, the policy provides industry with the certainty needed to make informed investment decisions and operational changes. 

The modulation policy directly supports the core principles underlying the pEPR scheme - ‘polluter pays’, rectification at source, and prevention. It ensures that producers creating less environmentally sustainable packaging bear appropriate financial responsibility, while rewarding those making positive choices. 

PackUK is committed to further research to potentially incorporate additional environmental sustainability factors in future policy iterations, continuing to drive innovation and improvement in packaging design across the UK.

Regulatory Position Statement
In response to industry feedback regarding the time and resource required to meet their 2025 recyclability assessment obligations, the four nations environmental regulators have published a Regulatory Position Statement (in Wales, a Regulatory Decision) providing additional flexibility for producers during this transition. 

This aims to ease the burden while maintaining the commitment to introduce modulated pEPR fees from the 2026-2027 assessment year. While producers must still report tonnages for the first half of 2025 including flexible and rigid plastics separately, their recyclability assessment obligations for this period can be extrapolated from second-half data. 

The initial modulation policy statement covers the three years from assessment year 2026/27 until 2028/29. During this period, fee modulation will be initially based on recyclability only through the Recyclability Assessment Methodology (RAM).   

Following this and in line with the requirement for a review of modulation after three years, PackUK will research how modulation might incorporate additional sustainability factors, with the possibility of incorporating these into modulation after this period.

PackUK interim strategy
In setting up the pEPR scheme PackUK, as Scheme Administrator, is required to publish a strategy meeting the requirements set out in Paragraph 11 of Schedule 7 to the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024. 

This is an interim strategy, which has been approved by approved by officials from all four nations and devolved ministers in parallel for agreement.  

A long-term strategy will be launched later in 2025 to include: 

long-term structures and arrangements (imminent appointments of Chief Executive Officer and Chief Strategy Officer)

developments to UK-wide policy objectives over the coming months e.g. work in reuse, the Local Government Outcomes Framework for England

planned appointment of a Producer Responsibility Organisation by March 2026.

Together, these measures mentioned outlined above represent a cornerstone of the government’s wider packaging initiatives, which collectively aim to support 25,000 jobs and stimulate more than £10 billion in recycling infrastructure investment over the next decade.