Understanding UK Packaging Waste Reporting
With the start of a new year, businesses across the UK must gear up for their packaging waste reporting obligations. January is a critical month for companies required to comply with waste reporting regulations and staying ahead of deadlines is essential to avoid penalties and ensure compliance.
If you are a business which uses packaging in its operations, you will likely be obliged to report under the new Extended Producer Responsibility regulations (EPR).
This blog will provide an overview of the reporting requirements and submission deadlines.
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What are waste packaging regulations?
The regulations place responsibilities on businesses which handle significant amounts of packaging to contribute to recycling and recovery efforts.
The regulations aim to reduce resource consumption, pollution and carbon emissions by supporting circular economy principles. This helps to ensure that materials are reused rather than wasted and incentivises businesses to embrace the latest innovations in packaging design.
For businesses using packaging which is likely to end up in UK households, the new regulations mean that the full cost of handling that packaging at the end of its life will be picked up by that business. The cost will vary based on the weight of packaging and material used, with higher fees imposed for materials which are more difficult to recycle.
Businesses which are B2B (using packaging likely to end up at other business destinations) will still be responsible for a proportion of the end-of-life costs but will have new reporting requirements under the regulations.
Which businesses are obligated to report waste packaging
The Obligation under the regulations will sit with one party within the supply chain, typically this will be the brand owner of the packaging being used or the business filling the packaging.
Any business with a turnover exceeding £2 million and handling over 50 tonnes of packaging annually will be required to report and pay fees on all of their in-scope packaging.
Businesses between £1m and £2m turnover and who are handling more than 25 tonnes of packaging will also have new reporting obligations.
Even if you are not obligated to report packaging use, it’s a good idea to monitor how much you use as this will help to focus your approach to packaging reduction and sustainability improvements.
Waste regulation reporting submission timelines
For businesses obligated to report under the UK packaging waste regulations, the start of the year marks a pivotal time to gather, validate, and submit data. The deadline for businesses to submit their H2 2024 (July to December) data for the previous year to the Government is 1st April 2025 but many compliance schemes request that data is provided significantly earlier than this, to allow sufficient time for processing and verification before the official deadline.
Failing to meet these deadlines can result in fines or other penalties, so businesses must prioritise timely and accurate reporting.
Information required for waste packaging reporting
Accurate packaging waste reporting relies on comprehensive data collection and categorisation for obligated packaging. This includes packaging material type, as well as the total tonnage of each material used.
As part of EPR The Extended Producer responsibilities you are required to report against 3 main areas:
- Your packaging material – corrugate, plastic, metal etc
- The application it’s used for
- Primary packaging –in direct contact with your product
- Secondary packaging – houses or displays multiple units
- Tertiary packaging – transports multiple items
- Shipping packaging – ecommerce box or mailer for example
- Packaging weight used, by tonne
How Macfarlane Packaging can help
Here at Macfarlane Packaging, we work with our customers to help them use less packaging and make their shipments lighter. This not only reduces waste packaging legislation costs, but packaging and operational costs too. It also positively impacts their sustainability goals too.
We can supply data in minutes on the packaging you purchase, sorting by material and weight at the touch of a button to simplify your annual reporting.
Contact Macfarlane Packaging today to find out how we can support your business to reduce packaging use and provide on the spot reporting.