Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 13
13
Accepted
Department needs to clarify EPR fees for producers to drive packaging behaviour change.
Recommendation
One of the Department’s objectives for implementing the extended producer responsibility scheme is to incentivise producers and retailers to use fewer, and more easily recyclable, materials in their packaging.27 We received written evidence from Marks and Spencer, a business required to pay fees under the extended responsibility scheme, which stressed the Department needs to provide clarity on the fees it will pay to drive behaviour change to reduce the use of packaging and where packaging is used, it is recycled.28 Deposit return scheme
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the committee, stating it will publish 'illustrative base fees' based on 2023 data to provide clarity on pEPR fees for producers. It also provides timelines for fee enforcement by May 2024 and producer invoice issuance by July 2025.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
2.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: November 2024 2.2 All small and large obligated producers must pay a fee to the appropriate regulator of the pEPR scheme on registration. Producers must have registered by 1 October 2023 but the regulators have agreed, by means of a Regulatory Position Statement, that they will not enforce this requirement until after 31 May 2024, effectively giving producers an additional eight months to pay their fee. The level of the fee will be set out in the pEPR regulations. 2.3 The department expects producers obligated as ‘large producers’ under the pEPR regime to be issued with an invoice for their first year’s fees as soon after July 2025 as the Scheme Administrator has the processes in place to be able to do so. Final base fees (in £/tonne of packaging material placed on the market) can only be calculated after April 2025 which is the deadline for producers to report the amount of packaging placed on the market in 2024. Given these timeframes, the department expects to be regularly publishing estimates (“illustrative base fees”). These estimates are expected to be based in a first instance on data reported by producers for the year 2023. The process for subsequent years will need to be confirmed by the Scheme Administrator once established. 2.4 The department expects that local authorities will be informed of their estimated payment amount for 2025-26 in November 2024. 2.5 On 21 October 2023, the department published the government response to the Simpler Recycling consultation, formerly titled Consistency in Recycling in England. This laid out the materials in scope of collections and the implementation dates for Simpler Recycling. 2.6 The department also launched a Consultation on additional policies related to Simpler Recycling in England, and separately consulted the relevant parties on exemptions and statutory guidance for Simpler Recycling in England. Both consultations closed on 20 November 2023 and the department is currently analysing the responses.