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Your monthly update on Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging across all four administrations.
February Forum Update on pEPR
This article applies to all four administrations
You can watch a short recording of this forum update on our YouTube channel.
PackUK serves as the Scheme Administrator for Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging (pEPR) across the four UK nations, supporting delivery of strategic policy direction set by governments while not setting policy itself. Areas such as Packaging Waste Recycling Notes (PRNs) and small producers fall outside PackUK's remit.
On producer obligations, Notices of Liability were issued in October, the resubmission window closed at the end of January, and regulators are validating data. Formal credit control is underway for outstanding payments, with two payment routes available: full bank transfer or quarterly Direct Debit instalments. Previous Direct Debit issues have been fully resolved.
Over £700 million in pEPR funding has been issued to local authorities, with further quarterly payments scheduled. Early investment examples include Suffolk County Council's MRF facility upgrades and East London Waste Authority's commitment to regional recycling improvements supported by WRAP. Six Improvement Action Plan pilots with local authorities have been completed, with outcomes under review. PackUK, on behalf of the four UK nations, remains on track to appoint an industry-led Producer Responsibility Organisation in March/April, pending Ministerial approval.
PackUK has now established all advisory groups, including the newly appointed Steering Group with governance structures updated ahead of Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO) integration.
Digital Update
The registration process for direct small producers is now live. In the upcoming release later in February, we will introduce an updated, more structured registration journey for Compliance Schemes registering small producers. A key change will be the introduction of a dedicated registration tile, and the requirement to submit their organisation data in the registration file separately from the large producers organisation data.
Additionally, the 2025 compliance year has been locked on the Report Packaging Data (RPD) portal, with any unaccepted 2025 December waste Packaging Waste Recycling Notes (PRNs) and Packaging Waste Export Recycling Notes (PERNs) now eligible to be accepted towards the 2026 recycling obligations.
A new 2026 recycling obligations tile is now live.
Compliance schemes acting on behalf of their members and direct large producers should submit their July-December 2025 packaging data files by April 1 to meet the legal deadline and have their 2026 recycling obligations calculated.
Read on for answers to questions taken at the forum.
Questions and Answers
Producer Registration
Question: Why has the 2025 producer register been taken down and when will it be put back up?
Answer: Registration deadlines for 2025 compliance year have now passed - 28 January for compliance schemes and 31 December for direct producers. The 2025 public register has been replaced by the 2026 public register, which is updated daily as new registrations are granted.
The 2025 public register remains available on this GOV.UK page, alongside the archived 2023 and 2024 versions.
Digital Systems and Reporting
Question: Is the National Packaging Waste Database (NPWD) intended to continue or will everything transition to Report Packaging Data (RPD) or similar?
Answer: All functionality relating to the PRN system will be carried out on the new digital services – Report Packaging Data (RPD) and Record Reprocessed or Exported Packaging Waste Digital Service (RREPW) following the closure of the 2025 year on NPWD. There won't be any residual activity that people need to perform using NPWD. Producers and compliance schemes should continue to use RPD to accept PRNs against their Recycling Obligations and manage their recycling obligations, to register with the regulator and pay their fee, and to submit their PoM data. Producers should also use RPD to view and pay their notice of liability".
Payments and Financial Matters
Question: What are the current and intended staff numbers for PackUK?
Answer: PackUK's headcount is expected to be 65 FTE.
Question: Are local authorities under any obligation to track where the funds are being spent?
Answer: pEPR funding must be used for the efficient management of household packaging waste. PackUK does not currently have specific templates for assurance of appropriate use of funds for local authorities. If there were concerns raised, PackUK would work with affected local authorities on appropriate evidence to demonstrate proper use of pEPR funds.
Question: PackUK have advised us that we can still enter a payment plan through a bank transfer, does that mean this is incorrect?
Answer: Producers can still set up payment plans, either by contacting the service desk or logging into RPD portal. You can set up a payment plan to indicate you’ll be paying by bank transfer using the following steps:
Log in to your Report Packaging Data portal:
- Click on the “Get help” quadrant.
- Select the “Raise a help request” quadrant.
- Choose the “Request or update a payment plan” quadrant.
- Enter your invoice number and request a quarterly payment plan for BACS transfer.
- Report packaging data - GOV.UK
Payment timelines are outlined on the Notice of Liability and are required to be paid fully by end of July.
Question: Payments were permitted via a standing order for those who are unable to set up direct debits to Stripe accounts - is this no longer permitted?
Answer: Payments can be made via a standing order. When a bank pays a standing order, PackUK cannot identify whether a producer has instructed their bank to take recurring payments (ie. Stripe does not hold information on whether it is a one-off bank transfer or a regular standing order). If you have set up a standing order, to ensure you don't receive reminders or follow up letters, please contact the helpdesk to advise us of your intended payment plan as soon as possible.
Question: How many tonnes or how £££ is the overall shift as a result of these 2024 resubmissions?
Answer: pEPR reported packaging data is available here.
Engagement and Governance
Question: Where can we find out more about PackUK LA engagement forums?
Answer: PackUK's engagement team regularly facilitate webinars that all local authorities can join. If you'd like more information about any engagement taking place, please get in touch with us via email.
Question: I understand some of the PackUK Technical Committees have sub groups eg the Recyclability Assessment Methodology Technical Advisory Committee (RAMTAC). Will you be releasing membership details of these?
Answer: PackUK convened a number of temporary sub-groups on behalf of the RAMTAC. These included members and guests of the RAMTAC, whose names are published on GOV.UK, as well as a small number of additional subject matter experts.
Data Reporting Requirements
Question: Is the requirement to report Nation of sale data to be delayed again - it is a huge burden on large producers when they are having to deal with the new requirements of RAM?
Answer: There are no plans to extend the regulatory position statement 330 (regulatory position in Wales). Further information about collecting and reporting nation of sale data can be found on GOV.UK.
Question: Along with Nation of Sales, will the recycling info reporting for pEPR also be delayed, is there more guidance on what exactly to report?
Answer: If this relates to self managed organisation waste, RPS 330 also references the reporting of this data for 2024 and 2025. As with Nation of sale data, the RPS does not extend to 2026 data therefore obligated producers collected this data and report it with packaging data. Guidance on self-managed organisation waste can be found on gov.uk under packaging type guidance.
If this relates to Recyclability Assessment Methodology (RAM) data; RPS 350 references the reporting of this data for January to June 2025 only (H1). The RPS does not extend to July to December 2025 data (H2), therefore obligated producers must assess their packaging and report the outcome of the assessment in their July to December 2025 packaging data which is due by 1 April 2026. Guidance on how to assess your packaging can be found here and the how to report is covered in the data speciation guidance here.
Agreed Positions and Interpretations
Question: Could you please confirm the latest available version of the Agreed Positions & Interpretations for pEPR and if there is a future update planned what the timeline may be on that?
Answer: The current version is version 7 and it is available on the National Packaging Waste Database. We are now working on version 8, which will incorporate the amendments from the SI. We do not yet have a confirmed publication date, but we will issue communications as soon as it’s ready.
Agreed Positions contain a table of changes, so you can what has been amended in the new version.
