As the deadline for H2 2025 EPR reporting approaches, businesses who place household packaging on the market face the final opportunity to submit Recyclability Assessment Methodology (RAM) data for the year.
If your organisation hasn’t yet gathered and assessed its RAM data, you’re not alone – many producers are still navigating this complex and time-consuming requirement. At Clarity, we regularly support companies in need of our expert help with the unavoidable challenge of rating hundreds – or thousands – of individual packaging components accurately.
While failing to submit accurate RAM data can lead to penalties, enforcement action and higher fees, businesses who use RAM Assess – Clarity’s dedicated assessment platform – can confidently submit accurate data, avoid default Red ratings and make informed changes that reduce future costs.
Below we outline five practical ways that RAM Assess could transform your reporting.
1. Discover cost-saving potential
One of the key benefits of RAM Assess is its ability to generate RAG (Red, Amber, Green) outputs at scale, giving you a clear picture of where your packaging is incurring avoidable costs.
Within minutes, RAM Assess can:
- Identify any data gaps that lead to default Red ratings, giving you time to correct missing information before submission
- Analyse existing Red-rated components, helping you prioritise the changes with the greatest cost impact
This allows you to quickly understand your cost exposure and begin optimising your packaging strategy.
2. Strengthen reporting accuracy – reduce audit risk
With EPR audits increasing – 2024 saw 25% more audits than 2023 – the risk of fines, suspensions and enforcement action grows too.
RAM Assess eliminates this risk. Businesses that use a specialist RAM assessment tool, such as RAM Assess, are less likely to be selected for audit, as your scheme can confirm in initial discussions that a RAM assessment has been made.
Developed in line with Defra and PackUK guidance, RAM Assess ensures that:
- Your RAM inputs are transformed into compliant and audit-ready RAM outputs (or RAG ratings)
- The risk of inaccuracies – and the penalties that could follow – are significantly reduced
- The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024 require producers to undertake a RAM assessment that strictly follows the lengthy decision tree for formal RAM assessment laid out by PackUK. RAM Assess ensures – and provides evidence – that you have not deviated from the specified decision tree.
3. Feel confident in your compliance
Even experienced producers find RAM reporting difficult to navigate. Uncertainty around interpretation, material classifications or component-level requirements can introduce unnecessary doubt.
RAM Assess removes this pressure. Purpose-built to meet regulatory requirements, it delivers:
- Accurate, consistent assessments
- An auditable trail of how packaging components were evaluated
- Peace of mind that your submission is aligned with current legislation
All you need to do is provide the data and RAM Assess handles the analysis.
4. Save valuable time, reduce admin
Compiling RAM data is resource-intensive, particularly for businesses managing large product portfolios. Instead of spending hours interpreting rules or calculating assessments manually, let RAM Assess automate the process.
Our innovative platform can:
- Evaluate thousands of SKUs in minutes
- Standardise outputs across your entire dataset
- Free up teams to focus on core business activity rather than compliance admin
5. Forecast for the future
RAM Assess doesn’t just support accurate reporting – it equips you to plan strategically for what comes next. With modulation fees for Red ratings set to double by 2028, businesses need a clear view of how packaging decisions will influence future costs.
RAM Assess enables you to:
- Model the financial impact of switching to more recyclable alternatives
- Forecast future fees based on your current packaging profile
- Prepare early for rising modulation fees
RAM Assess is the closest tool to a financial forecast for your packaging strategy.
Take the complexity out of RAM reporting
RAM reporting may feel daunting, but that’s exactly why Clarity built RAM Assess: to simplify the process, improve accuracy and future-proof packaging decisions.
Whatever your goals – reducing cost, avoiding risk, saving time or planning ahead – RAM Assess gives your business the confidence, accuracy and control to meet EPR requirements with ease.
