EPR fees announced as joint statement laments changes

By Hamish Graham

Published: 30 June, 2025

The delayed details of the official cost per tonne of glass as part of the government’s EPR scheme have been announced by DEFRA.

The final amount will stand at £192 per tonne, a drop of £48 from the provisional £240 previously announced by the government department.

Despite the reduction, figures from across the industry in a joint statement detailed that the fees are still prohibitively expensive and why they could “have the unintended consequence of encouraging switching to less recyclable materials.”

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The statement from the SWA, WSTA, WineGB, BBPA, UKHospitality and British Glass Manufacturers’ Confederation also points out that “[glass] fees will cover roughly 30% of the scheme’s cost, despite being just 5% of the volume of containers placed on the market.”

Commenting on the latest announcement, Miles Beale, WSTA CEO, elaborated on why SMEs could be particularly hard hit: “These hefty EPR fees are still significantly more per unit compared with charges across Europe, eight times more than in Germany, and three times more than in Croatia or Finland.

“Modulated fees have been confirmed for year two of the scheme (2026). Packaging classified as red, will increase incrementally 1.2x in 2026, 1.6x in 2027 and 2x (double the base fee) in 2028. There is no time to avoid these fees for produce sold this year. This is especially impactful on SMEs and importers who need time to make changes and may not have revenues to cover these unknown costs.

“This news is another blow to the sector, which is already reeling from consecutive duty hikes and whose margins are already tight. Having to pay the highest EPR fee for glass will force businesses to pass the costs onto consumers, pushing up inflation while – perversely - encouraging the use of cheaper and less sustainable packaging alternatives.”

The frustrations felt across the drinks trade will be compounded by the OBR’s own forecast accompanying the Spring Statement which revealed: “the policy is unlikely to have a material impact on rates of recycling or packaging waste volumes in the next five years.”

To read the full statement you can click here.

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