In an article on 28th September, The Times claims that, "Ministers are set to water down a £1 billion “packaging tax” proposed by the former Conservative government. Amid the cost of living crisis and heavy lobbying from industry executives, the government will this week announce they are cutting the previously suggested fees. Sources in the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) said it was making the changes after listening to business voices".Until we see the update, BHETA is continuing to urge members to press the Government.BHETA has taken significant action so far in response to Extended Producer Responsibility.In 2022, we contacted Ministers and ran a campaign encouraging members to contact their MP, to put pressure on the Conservative Government. They subsequently shelved the fee element of EPR until after the 2024 election.
Following the release of new illustrative fees on 15th August 2024 from DEFRA, BHETA sprang into action:1. We wrote to all members on 19th August about the Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA)'s first set of illustrative fees for the upcoming packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme.2. We are working with our Waste Scheme Provider, Wastepack, to help members calculate the potential impact of EPR for each business.3. We have written strong letters to highlight the issues with EPR to both DEFRA and DBT.Read Will Jones letter to DEFRA4. We have made available to all members a dummy letter with objections and encouraged them to adopt it into their own letter.Read BHETA's dummy letter for suppliers to re-draft and send to their MP5. We have sent out press releases to the national and consumer press and received extensive coverage, including an interview with The Guardian, resulting in Will Jones being quoted in the article on Friday 20th September.Read the article in The Guardian6. We suggest all members should:(a) Write to your MP making clear the implications for your businesses of the new bills and urging them to take up their case with DEFRA.(b) Write to DEFRA sharing the impact on your business: The Rt Hon Steve Reed OBE MP, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Seacole Building, 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF(c) Write to the Department of Business & Trade sharing the impact on your business and urge them to take up your case with DEFRA: The Rt Hon Jonathan Reynolds MP, Secretary of State for Business and Trade, Department for Business and Trade, Old Admiralty Building, Admiralty Place, London, SW1A 2DY(d) Write to the National Press sharing your story to put the pressure on Government.(e) Let BHETA know how much your bill was projected to increase so we can measure the overall impact on our sector, and tell the industry story to Government and the press.Will Jones, COO of BHETA said: "BHETA has consistently fought the new EPR plans over the last few years, and producer opposition prompted the last Government to delay the scheme in 2023."We urge all members to do everything they can to highlight the issues with the level of this new proposed tax, the difficulties that this tax will cause for their business and the UK economy, and to bring pressure on DEFRA to reduce the rates."
What is Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)?
The UK Government is planning to introduce new legislation called Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) which will totally overhaul the current PRN system and involve the most significant change to Packaging Regulations for a generation.(Note: this is separate from the Plastic Packaging Tax which is a second tax on plastic packaging).EPR was developed in 2022 by the previous Government. Following campaigning by various bodies (including BHETA) the Government delayed the plans until after the General Election.The new Government has pressed ahead with the plans and the new tax is set to be charged in the UK from 2025 based on levels of 2024 packaging and will have a significant impact on BHETA members. Draft legislation is in place.
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