Companies now need to pay £200 per tonne for plastic packaging with less than 30% recycled content

6 April 2022

From 1st April, a tax of £200 per tonne applies to plastic packaging which is manufactured or imported into the UK with a recycled content of less than 30%. Additionally, even if your business only handles plastic with more than 30% recycled content, you may still be required to register and report for the tax – if you manufacture/import more than 10 tonnes of plastic packaging in the UK. As a tax, implementation and regulation is the responsibility of the tax authorities – in the UK, this is Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) – whereas environmental authorities apply EPR regulations. HMRC recently provided additional guidance, including: Measuring the weight of a packaging component Clarification of 5 acceptable methods: Individual Component Method Materials Input Method Special Method Verified Specification Method Sample Component Method Please see here for more information. Group Registration Group registration and reporting for the tax is now possible. More information here. To help businesses that handle plastic packaging with the tax and its requirements, Landbell Group company ERP UK also has the following useful resources: a Plastic Packaging Tax section on its website with everything you need to know about the tax, plus a short web enquiry form should you require further assistance a data collection and calculation service from ERP UK’s Data Services team, which fulfils the requirements of the Plastic Packaging Tax If you have any questions about the plastic packaging tax and how it will affect your company, please contact: ukplasticpackagingtax@erp-recycling.org Other countries look set to follow in the UK’s footsteps: Estonia and Spain have drafted laws for a plastic tax. In Italy, the plastic tax is already a law, but it has still not been enforced – and there are currently no implementing regulations.