Rethinking Packaging: How Smarter Choices Can Reduce Your EPR Costs

For producers, packaging is no longer just a sustainability consideration – it’s a financial one. Under Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), businesses that use hard-to-recycle materials will see higher compliance costs, while those that design for recyclability will benefit from lower fees.

At Clarity, we help organisations simplify the new EPR reporting requirements, ensuring that your packaging data submissions are accurate and that you’re never paying more than you should. With the right packaging decisions and robust data, compliance becomes a strategic advantage rather than just a regulatory burden.

• Lower costs through recyclability: Packaging that is easier to recycle attracts lower modulated fees, helping you reduce long-term compliance spend.
• Accurate reporting: With our support, your packaging data returns are complete and correct, protecting you from over-reporting and unnecessary costs.
• Future-proofing: Redesigning packaging in line with recyclability standards keeps you ahead of evolving rules and consumer expectations.
• Reputation and resilience: Sustainable packaging doesn’t just save money, it builds trust with customers, retailers, and investors.

Extended Producer Responsibility is part of the UK Government’s wider strategy to reduce the environmental impact of packaging waste. It places the full cost of managing packaging at end-of-life onto producers rather than local authorities.

From 2025, large producers must collect and submit detailed data twice a year on the packaging they place on the UK market. This data will inform modulated fees from 2026, where harder-to-recycle packaging formats will attract higher costs.

By ensuring your data is right first time, Clarity helps you stay compliant, avoid penalties, and keep costs under control.

Packaging waste remains a major environmental issue, but it also highlights why EPR is so commercially important for producers.

• The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) estimates that the UK generates 12 million tonnes of packaging waste every year, including 2.5 million tonnes of plastic packaging.
• Plastics remain one of the most complex materials to recycle, with challenges such as contamination and the wide variety of plastic types.
• The Big Plastic Count found that UK households throw away 1.7 billion pieces of plastic packaging every week, of which only 17% is recycled domestically.
• Nearly 40% of UK plastic packaging still ends up in landfill or incineration, generating millions of tonnes of CO₂ annually.

These figures underline the pressure on government to act and the financial risks for businesses who fail to adapt. For companies who work with Clarity, the opportunity lies in using compliance to identify cost hotspots, shift to recyclable formats, and improve reporting accuracy.

We support our packaging scheme members by turning complex regulatory obligations into practical solutions, combining hands-on expertise with powerful technology:

• RAM Assess platform: Our industry-leading software helps you assess the recyclability of every packaging component against government criteria, giving you a clear Red/Amber/Green (RAG) rating. This enables you to identify packaging formats likely to attract higher EPR fees and take proactive steps to reduce costs.
• Data accuracy built in: RAM Assess streamlines the process of gathering, verifying and classifying packaging data. That means your packaging data submissions are right first time – avoiding costly mistakes or over-reporting.
• Cost hotspot analysis: RAM Assess highlights where your packaging could trigger higher modulated fees, allowing you to model different design or material choices and understand their financial impact.
• Future-proof packaging design: With clear recyclability insights, you can work with your supply chain to redesign packaging that is both environmentally responsible and commercially efficient.
• Expert support alongside technology: Our compliance specialists guide you through the latest EPR and recyclability requirements, ensuring you’re always ahead of regulatory change.

With Clarity and RAM Assess, members gain confidence that compliance is not only simplified, but also driving down costs and unlocking opportunities to innovate.

EPR is reshaping the cost of packaging – but it doesn’t have to be a burden. With Clarity, you can simplify compliance, reduce costs, and future-proof your packaging strategy.

Talk to our team today to find out how working with Clarity can turn your packaging compliance into a commercial advantage.