Guidance

Extended producer responsibility for packaging: become a compliance scheme

How to apply for compliance scheme approval, register, take on packaging producer responsibilities and comply.

From:
Environment Agency and Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
Published
9 May 2014
Last updated
1 January 2025 — See all updates

Compliance schemes provide a service for packaging producers. The producers join a scheme as members. For a charge, the compliance scheme takes on their packaging producer legal obligations.

Applying for compliance scheme approval

You need to contact your environmental regulator to apply for approval pf a compliance scheme.

If your business is in:

Your regulator will send you an application form that you must complete.

You must also send in the following supporting documents and fee:

  • the constitution of the scheme
  • the rules with which a member of the scheme is obliged to comply
  • the procedures under which the scheme operator enforces the rules against a member of the scheme
  • an operational plan for the next 3 years
  • an application fee of £8,174

Approved person

You must be an approved person to:

  • sign applications for compliance scheme approval and registration
  • submit data and declaration of compliance statements

The approved person must be one of these legal entities:

  • a director or company secretary of a company registered in the UK
  • a partner in a partnership
  • an individual operating as a sole trader
  • a person who has control or management of the business

You can delegate your function to another person in the report packaging data service (RPD) once your application has been approved, and you have set up an account and registered.

Conditions of the approval

To get your compliance scheme approved and to maintain your approval, you must:

  • comply with your obligations
  • ensure all members’ data and information provided to the regulators is as accurate as reasonable possible
  • ensure you purchase packaging recovery notes (PRNs) or packaging export recovery notes (PERNs) in a way which does not hinder others from doing so
  • provide any information as requested by the regulators when monitoring compliance with the scheme obligations and conditions of approval
  • ensure you comply with the conditions of registration in relation to any year in which you are registered
  • get approval from the regulator for any proposed material changes to your operational plan before any changes are implemented
  • provide records and returns to the regulator as per regulation 55 in The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024

Compliance scheme registration

Once approved you need to set up an account on the RPD service so you can register your compliance scheme.

Find out how RPD fits within the larger extended producer responsibility (EPR) service.

You must:

  • register your compliance scheme on or before 1 April 2025 for the 2025 registration year and on or before 1 October each year thereafter for subsequent years (starting 1 October 2025 for the 2026 registration year)
  • provide full details of the agreement for the constitution of the compliance scheme including any rules or regulations the members must follow
  • provide details of each producer who is a member of the scheme
  • provide a copy of your approved operational plan, updated to the date on which your application for registration is submitted
  • have your application signed by an approved person of the scheme operator
  • ensure any information you provide to the regulator is as accurate as reasonably possible
  • pay an application fee of £13,804

When you submit your registration, the relevant environmental regulator will assess your application. They may ask you for more information. Once a decision has been made you will be notified within 28 days.

Conditions of the registration

To get your compliance scheme registered and to maintain your registration, you must:

  • comply with your obligations and conditions of approval
  • provide any information as requested by the regulators when monitoring compliance with the scheme obligations and conditions of approval
  • notify the regulator of any change in membership within 28 days of the change
  • inform the appropriate agency of any material change in the information provided at the time of registration, within 28 days of any such change
  • keep records of the total number of tonnes of packaging waste in each packaging category in relation to which the scheme operator is responsible for carrying out recycling obligations
  • keep records of the amount in tonnes of packaging waste in each packaging category received for recycling at a reprocessing site, or at an overseas reprocessing site as set out in the PRNs or PERNs acquired by the scheme operator
  • submit a yearly statement of compliance confirming whether or not you have met your obligations
  • keep records for 7 years

Penalties for non-compliance

You must comply with the conditions of approval and registration.

If you don’t, your environmental regulator may withdraw your approval and cancel your registration.

See the Environment Agency monitoring plan which sets out how they’ll check businesses are complying each year.

If you fail to comply you may face prosecution under criminal law. For some offences there are also civil penalties available. These include:

  • fixed penalty fines for minor offences
  • higher fines for a more serious offence
  • an enforcement undertaking – an offer, formally accepted by your environmental regulator that redresses the impact of your non-compliance

Contact the environmental regulators

England

Telephone: 03708 506 506

Email: packaging@environment-agency.gov.uk

Combined Packaging Regime (CPR)
Environment Agency
Quadrant 2
99 Parkway Avenue
Parkway Business Park
Sheffield
S9 4WF

Wales

Telephone: 0300 065 3000

Email: packaging@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk

Producer Responsibility
Natural Resources Wales
Welsh Government Offices
Cathays Park
King Edward VII Avenue
Cardiff
CF10 3NQ

Scotland

Email: producer.responsibility@sepa.org.uk

Telephone: 0300 099 6699

Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA)
Producer Compliance and Waste Shipment Unit
Angus Smith Building
Unit 6
4 Parkland Avenue
Eurocentral
Holytown
North Lanarkshire
ML1 4WQ

Northern Ireland

Telephone: 028 9056 9338

Email: packaging@daera-ni.gov.uk

Northern Ireland Environment Agency
Extended Producer Responsibility Unit
Control and Data Management Team
Regulation Unit
1st Floor Bradan
NIEA Lisburn
17 Antrim Road
Tonagh
Lisburn
BT28 3AL

Legislation and regulations

See packaging and packaging waste legislation and regulations:

Updates to this page

Published 9 May 2014
Last updated 1 January 2025 + show all updates

  1. Updating details on the application process, contact information and links to the latest monitoring plan and legislation so that everything is relevant to the EPR regulations coming into effect with the Main SI on 1 January 2025.

  2. Added link to the Environment Agency 2018 monitoring plan.

  3. Content updated to include 2016 amendments to Regulations. PCSs apply to environmental regulators for approval rather than government ministers. PCSs no longer need to submit an operational plan.

  4. New text that explains what an approved person is and a link to the delegation of approved/appropriate person form.

  5. First published.

Sign up for emails or print this page

Contents

Related content