Glass: Recycling
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of extended producer responsibility fees on brewers using glass bottles.
Answered by Mary Creagh
Following the passage of the legislation introducing extended producer responsibility for packaging (pEPR) through parliament, the government has been working closely with industry, including the glass sector, to understand the impact of the upcoming fees on business as the scheme is implemented. To date we have had little evidence presented that pEPR fees cannot be afforded.
We are encouraging the glass industry to seek to reduce the cost impacts of pEPR through a transition to reuse and refill, something that used to be commonplace in the UK and continues to be in many other countries. The use of reusable/refillable packaging is encouraged under pEPR, as producers are only required to report and pay disposal cost fees for household packaging the first time it is placed on the market, and can then offset these fees when they recycle this packaging at then end of its life, thereby avoiding the vast majority of pEPR fees.
A full assessment of the impact of Extended Producer Responsibility was completed in 2024 and is published on legislation.gov.uk.
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