Glass bottles sold straight to pubs and restaurants to be exempt from packaging EPR fees from April 2027
Defra says the change ends double charging for recycling the same glass. Any saving goes to the business that pays the fee, such as the drinks manufacturer, rather than directly to the pub.
Glass drinks containers that producers sell directly to pubs, restaurants and other licensed hospitality venues will no longer attract Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) fees from April 2027, under a change announced by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs on Wednesday 11 November. It applies in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
EPR for packaging makes producers contribute to the cost of managing the packaging waste they create, and Defra says councils have so far received £1.4 billion through the scheme to improve recycling services. Exempting this dual-use glass, it says, will stop businesses being charged twice for recycling the same packaging.
The numbers
Defra estimates the change is worth up to 10p per wine bottle and between 4p and 6p per beer bottle, depending on size. For a pub selling 10,000 beer bottles and 3,700 wine bottles a year, it puts the saving at up to £870. Those figures are based on current fees and industry estimates of consumption.
The money does not go straight to the pub. Defra says any saving will be realised by the business responsible for the EPR fee, such as the drinks manufacturer. A business is an obligated producer under EPR if it is established in the UK, supplied or imported more than 25 tonnes of packaging in the previous year and had a worldwide turnover of £1 million or more.
Fees for other packaging
Defra will also consult on adjusting fees so that easy-to-recycle materials such as glass and paper cost less, and hard-to-recycle packaging, including some plastics, costs more. It says that could cut fees for the most recyclable packaging by up to 40% a year. PackUK, which runs the scheme across the four nations, plans a call for evidence on producer fees in early 2027, and a separate call for evidence on reusable packaging is due next month, covering England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Indirect supply
The exemption applies only to glass sold directly from producers to venues. The British Soft Drinks Association said it would work with Defra on a solution for indirect supply, building on the ratio-based approach in this week's announcement, while the British Beer and Pub Association said the 12,000 publicans running leased and tenanted pubs also needed to be included.
