They’re about to get a very expensive surprise.
Here’s what the UK’s Extended Producer Responsibility (pEPR) base fees actually mean for your bottom line:
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The fees are live. And they vary by material. Plastic: £455 per tonne Aluminium: £270 per tonne Paper/Card: £210 per tonne That’s before recyclability assessment even enters the picture.
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Here’s where it gets costly. If your packaging is classified as non-recyclable under the Recyclability Assessment Methodology (RAM), that’s a 20% surcharge on top of your base fee. Red-rated packaging isn’t just a sustainability problem. It’s a cash flow problem.
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The timeline is tighter than most people realise. Fees are invoiced September–October 2026. But they’re calculated based on your 2025 sales data. Which means your reporting window on the RPD (Report Packaging Data) portal closes April 1, 2026. Miss it, and you’re looking at late fees on top of everything else.
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3 things to do right now:
Compile your packaging data across all material types — don’t wait until Q1 crunch,
Verify your organisational profile and materials breakdown on RPD is accurate before April 1, 2026
Complete your RAM recyclability classification and make sure it’s evidenced and audit-ready
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The businesses that treat pEPR as a compliance checkbox are going to overpay.
The ones that treat it as a financial planning exercise will control the cost.
Which one are you? Drop a comment or email hello@circumetrics me if you want to sense-check your current pEPR position before the April deadline.