This article applies to all four administrations of the UK.

The Packaging Waste (Data Reporting) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2024 were laid in Parliament on the 17 January 2024. The Northern Ireland Executive, Scottish Government and Welsh Government will be laying equivalent regulations shortly.

Following the conclusion of parliamentary processes across the UK, we expect these requirements to be in force from the 1 April 2024 and apply to the full 2024 reporting period.

Key amendments

These regulations will make two key changes, amongst others:

• Remove the exemption on drinks containers that would have been obligated in a Scottish Deposit Return Scheme (DRS)
• Widen out the definition of household packaging to allow for more packaging to be fairly exempted from being defined as household packaging and therefore attracting disposal cost fees.

Household packaging

We received valuable feedback from stakeholders who expressed concern that the previous definition of household packaging resulted in some business-only packaging, such as a 50-litre beer keg, attracting a disposal cost obligation, particularly where the packaging was supplied via wholesalers or intermediaries.

To address this, we have amended the definition of household packaging to ensure that business-only packaging that is not likely to be disposed of in a household bin, will not be classified as household packaging.

The environmental regulators will be engaging with stakeholders to create guidance to support businesses with the new household packaging definition.

As part of the amendment on the household packaging definition, a list of public institutions will be included. This amendment seeks to address ambiguities relating to bodies such as the NHS which is not considered a business. Where packaging ends up as waste at a public institution, the same tests will apply as they do for businesses.

Deposit Return Scheme

The deferral to the Scottish DRS meant any packaging that would have been obligated under the Scottish DRS scheme would not be obligated, under both packaging EPR and DRS. The inclusion of Scottish DRS material aligns with the approach across the UK.

DRS material from all four UK governments will be included within these regulations until a DRS is operational.

Further amendments

In addition to our two key amendments set out above these regulations will:

• Clarify where the obligation sits in the below scenarios:

1. The packer/filler will be obligated for branded packaging when the brand relates to the packaging only and not the product.

2. The first owner in the UK of packaged goods will be obligated when those packaged goods have been manufactured or assembled in the UK by a third party on behalf of a foreign owner (where that third party does not take ownership of the packaging).

3. Distributor producers will not be obligated when they sell empty packaging to large producers, who then pack or fill that packaging before supplying it onwards. They will be obligated when selling empty packaging to anyone else, including large producers who don’t pack or fill the packaging before supplying it onwards.

• The environmental regulators will publish a list of all large producers who have reported data under the regulations. This will assist other producers in complying with their own obligations.

Next steps

The English regulations will now be subject to debates in parliament. In the meantime, to support stakeholders from all four nations who would like to hear more about these amendments, we will run an interactive webinar session on the 13 February, dedicated specifically to the amended Data SI. Please register to attend this session. 

Jointly, with the other UK Governments, we will be working on updating guidance, and where needed, creating new guidance for these new amendments by late February 2024.

Please encourage your colleagues to sign up to our newsletter

Please click on the button to receive up to date Resources and Waste news