IN Brief:
- PackUK has appointed UK Packaging PRO as the producer responsibility organisation for the UK’s pEPR scheme, with formal appointment from 1 April 2026.
- PackUK retains oversight and final decisions on local authority payments and producer fees, while the PRO brings producer input into delivery.
- The move lands as packaging EPR funding and recyclability-linked fees begin reshaping packaging decisions across food and drink.
UK Packaging PRO has been appointed by PackUK as the producer responsibility organisation for the UK’s packaging Extended Producer Responsibility scheme, formalising an industry-led role in one of the biggest regulatory shifts affecting food and drink packaging.
The not-for-profit bid was led by the Food and Drink Federation and INCPEN and, according to the appointing parties, had backing from more than 100 organisations across packaging production, waste management, retail, manufacturing, and civil society. Formal appointment begins on 1 April 2026, with responsibilities to be introduced gradually rather than transferred in a single step.
For food manufacturers and brand owners, the key detail is that the scheme architecture remains split. PackUK will retain oversight of the PRO and remain accountable to the governments of the UK’s four nations, while core administrative powers — including final decisions on local authority payments and producer fees — stay with PackUK. The new organisation’s role is to bring producer input into scheme delivery, support collaboration across the value chain, and help shape how packaging is improved, collected, and recycled.
The government says pEPR will direct £1.4 billion into local authorities in the scheme’s first year to improve recycling. That funding model is tied to a wider shift already underway, with liable producers receiving notices of liability for disposal fees and Year 2 moving toward modulated fees linked to recyclability. In practice, that keeps packaging format choices, material selection, and data quality under closer commercial and regulatory scrutiny.
UK Packaging PRO says it will work with governments, local authorities, the waste and recycling sector, and obligated producers to improve recycling rates, support better packaging design, and align incentives with environmental performance. Karen Graley will continue as Head of UK Packaging PRO through mobilisation, while Sebastian Munden CBE has been appointed chair.
For food and drink packaging users, the appointment does not remove the immediate compliance burden, but it does create a formal industry body at the centre of how pEPR is implemented. The next phase will be defined by how fees, local authority payments, data handling, and recyclability incentives operate once the system beds in.
