Glass drinks containers supplied directly to pubs, restaurants and licensed hospitality venues will be exempt from UK packaging extended producer responsibility (pEPR) fees from next year, Defra has announced.
The department said the decision responded to industry concerns that some businesses were effectively paying twice for their recycling obligations, covering both commercial waste service costs and pEPR fees. The exemption is expected to apply to fees calculated from April 2027 for glass containers sold directly by companies to hospitality groups.
Fee review and modulation
pEPR began invoicing companies last year to cover the cost of managing the recycling and treatment of waste materials supplied to businesses and consumers. A review of fee structures was already under way, and the government said it would also examine further market engagement around how the regime is managed.
Defra said businesses would be consulted on the fees they pay for packaging waste, so that easy-to-recycle packaging such as glass and paper costs less, while hard-to-recycle packaging such as some plastics costs more. It said this could reduce fees for the most recyclable packaging by up to 40% a year.
The measures are understood to recognise concerns that some hospitality groups risked a double charge when funding collections and disposal services. Further campaigning was expected from parts of the industry over glass containers supplied indirectly through wholesalers.
Fairness and funding
Defra said the exemption was intended to ensure pEPR supports more sustainable business and consumer practices without undermining the overall case for EPR. The government said it remained committed to the principle that producers should contribute towards the costs of managing packaging waste and help reduce it, noting that £1.4bn had already been provided to councils through the scheme to improve recycling services. It added that the regime must operate fairly and not disproportionately affect some industries and hospitality businesses.
Defra committed to launching a call for evidence in December on mechanisms to support scaled-up commitments to reuse packaging as a way of curbing waste and plastics use. A separate market engagement early next year will see the pEPR administrator PackUK seek feedback on the fees placed on manufacturers to cover treatment costs, with the aim of encouraging easier-to-recycle materials.
The announcement also addressed market pressure on glass production and packaging, including two investigations by the independent Trade Remedies Authority into imported glass containers from China and Turkey. Following a recommendation from the authority, a provisional anti-dumping measure on Chinese imports was imposed on 9 September, and both investigations remain ongoing.
Industry reaction
Environment secretary Dame Angela Eagle said the decision answered calls from the packaging and hospitality sectors over charges on recyclable products, stating that the government was committed to supporting British business and that the changes backed the glass industry and pubs while ensuring everyone does their bit to reduce waste.
British Glass said the policy change was welcome but would not take effect until the third year of the pEPR regime, which runs from April 2027 to March 2028. Executive director Nick Kirk said the government had listened to glass manufacturers' concerns, and that the proposed changes begin to address some unintended consequences of pEPR and better recognise the environmental benefits of glass. He pointed to the planned update to the glass material value, the proposed acceleration of modulation factors and the commitment to review future fee structures as moves in a fairer direction, and welcomed measures on glass supplied to hospitality while noting that the full impact of the exemption still needed to be understood.
Andy Bagnall, director general of the British Soft Drinks Association, described the announcement as a significant first step towards ensuring drink containers used by the hospitality sector were not double-charged. He said soft drinks businesses take responsibility for recycling the packaging they place on the market seriously and that a successful EPR scheme can raise recycling rates and reduce waste, but unfair allocation of costs undermines its effectiveness. He added that the association looked forward to working with Defra on a solution for indirect supply building on the announced ratio-based approach.
Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association, said the stance on glass charges would relieve pubs across the country, with the measures potentially reducing cost pressures on Britain's brewers by tens of millions. She said the long-term cumulative impact of UK packaging policies must be taken into account, and that the 12,000 publicans running leased and tenanted pubs as SMEs must be included, otherwise more than a quarter of Britain's pubs would not benefit equally from the change.