Glass drinks containers supplied directly to pubs, restaurants and licensed hospitality venues in the UK will be exempt from 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 structure under review
The pEPR regime began invoicing companies last year to fund the collection, recycling and treatment of packaging placed on the market. A review of fee structures is already under way. Defra said businesses would be consulted on the fees they pay for packaging waste, so that easy-to-recycle materials such as glass and paper cost less while harder-to-recycle packaging, including some plastics, costs more. The department estimated this could cut fees for the most recyclable packaging by up to 40% per year.
Defra presented the exemption as part of efforts to make pEPR support more sustainable business and consumer practice without undermining the overall case for producer responsibility. It said the government remained committed to the principle that producers should contribute to the cost of managing packaging waste, noting that £1.4bn had already been provided to councils through the scheme to improve recycling services, while recognising that pEPR must operate fairly and not disproportionately affect particular industries and hospitality businesses.
Environment secretary Dame Angela Eagle said the government was committed to supporting British business, and that the changes back the glass industry and pubs while ensuring everyone plays a part in reducing waste.
Further engagement is planned. Defra said it would launch a call for evidence in December on mechanisms to scale up packaging reuse 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 charged to manufacturers, with the aim of encouraging easier-to-recycle materials.
The announcement also comes amid market pressure on glass production. Defra pointed to two investigations by the independent Trade Remedies Authority into imported glass containers from China and Turkey; following the authority's recommendation, a provisional anti-dumping measure on Chinese imports was imposed on 9 September, and both investigations remain ongoing.
Industry reaction
British Glass said the policy change was welcome but noted that the reforms would not take effect until the third year of the pEPR regime, running from April 2027 to March 2028. Executive director Nick Kirk said the government had listened to manufacturers' concerns about appearing to penalise glass as a packaging material. He identified the planned update to the glass material value, the proposed acceleration of modulation factors and the commitment to review future fee structures as steps towards a fairer system, and welcomed measures covering glass supplied to hospitality, while saying the full impact of the proposed exemption still needed to be understood.
Andy Bagnall, director general of the British Soft Drinks Association, called the announcement a significant first step against double charging for drinks containers used in hospitality. He said soft drinks businesses take their recycling responsibilities seriously and that a successful EPR scheme can raise recycling rates and cut waste, but that an unfair allocation of costs undermines its effectiveness. The association would work with Defra on a solution for indirect supply building on the ratio-based approach announced, he added.
Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association, said the direction of travel would be warmly welcomed and that the measures could reduce cost pressures on Britain's brewers by tens of millions of pounds. She stressed that the 12,000 publicans running leased and tenanted pubs as small businesses must also be included, otherwise more than a quarter of Britain's pubs would not benefit equally, and called for the long-term cumulative impact of UK packaging policy to be taken into account.
The move is also read as recognition of the risk of a double charge for hospitality groups funding both collections and disposal services, with parts of the industry expected to keep campaigning over glass containers supplied indirectly through wholesalers.