Every UK packaging term,
in plain English.

The registration trigger for Plastic Packaging Tax. Businesses that manufacture or import 10 or more tonnes of plastic packaging in any rolling 12-month period must register with HMRC for PPT. The 12-month window is rolling - not the tax year or the calendar year - so you need to be tracking your plastic packaging volumes on a continuous basis, not just at year-end.

The threshold also has a forward-looking element: if you reasonably expect to manufacture or import 10 or more tonnes in the next 30 days alone, you must register immediately, even if you have not hit the threshold yet in historic data. This catches businesses with seasonal spikes or sudden growth who might otherwise claim they did not know they needed to register.

Once registered, you remain registered even if volumes drop below 10 tonnes in a subsequent 12-month period - you need to formally deregister if you believe your volumes have fallen and will stay below the threshold. Deregistration does not happen automatically.

Components that fall into excluded plastic packaging categories do not count toward the 10-tonne threshold. Components above the 30% recycled threshold do count toward it even though they are exempt from the tax itself - a common source of confusion.

The key exemption trigger in Plastic Packaging Tax. A plastic packaging component is exempt from PPT if 30% or more of the plastic in that component - by weight - is recycled plastic. Below 30%, the full PPT rate applies to the entire component. There is no partial charge: a component at 29% recycled content pays tax on its full taxable weight, while one at 30% pays nothing.

The threshold is measured against the weight of the plastic in the component, not the total weight of the component. If a component weighs 30g and 10g of that is a non-plastic element (a metal clip, a paper label), only the plastic portion matters for the calculation. If 9g of the 20g plastic portion is recycled, that is 45% - above the threshold and exempt.

Components with mixed recycled and virgin plastic are assessed on the blend. Suppliers typically give this figure as a percentage; it must be backed by certificates you hold on file (see recycled plastic).

Getting components above 30% is the main way manufacturers reduce PPT liability without changing packaging format. A move from 28% to 30% recycled content on a high-volume component can save thousands of pounds per year in tax at current rates.

The per-tonne charge a producer pays to the UK packaging EPR scheme, before any modulation. Base fees are set by DEFRA per material category - paper and board, plastic, glass, steel, aluminium, fibre-based composite, wood, and "other" - and are reviewed quarterly.

The base fee for plastic, for example, is significantly higher than for glass or wood, reflecting the cost of collecting and recycling each material in the UK. The base fee multiplied by the tonnage you place on the market is the floor of your EPR liability, before recyclability modulation is applied.

Your total EPR cost is roughly: base fee × tonnage ± modulation adjustment. Packlah pulls the published base fees daily and recalculates every SKU automatically.

The business whose name, trademark or label appears on a packaged product placed on the UK market. Under UK packaging EPR, the brand owner is typically the obligated party - meaning they pay the fees for that product's packaging, even if they didn't physically pack or manufacture it.

If you contract a co-packer to fill your branded crisp packets, you (the brand owner) are obligated, not the co-packer. If you put your own label on imported products, you become the brand owner for EPR purposes. Private-label products sold by a supermarket make the supermarket the brand owner.

For PPT, the picture is slightly different: PPT follows the manufacturer or importer, not the brand owner. Where there is no clear UK brand owner - for example with parallel imports or unbranded goods - the EPR obligation falls to the importer or first UK seller.

A DEFRA-approved third-party organisation that handles EPR registration, data submission and fee payment on behalf of producers. Compliance schemes pool members' obligations, submit data to PackUK, and pay fees in aggregate.

Joining a compliance scheme is not mandatory, but most large producers use one to avoid building the reporting workflow in-house. The major UK schemes - Valpak, Biffpack, Veolia, Clarity, Comply Direct and others - charge an admin fee per tonne on top of the actual EPR base fees.

Packlah produces submission-ready data that you can hand straight to your compliance scheme, or use to submit directly to PackUK if you self-register. Either way the underlying calculation is the same. Note that compliance schemes are an EPR concept - PPT has no equivalent, as you submit directly to HMRC.

The UK government department responsible for environmental policy, including the packaging EPR scheme. DEFRA sets the base fees, defines the producer thresholds, publishes the rate schedule, and runs consultations on scheme changes.

Day-to-day administration of EPR submissions and enforcement is delegated to PackUK (as scheme administrator) and the Environment Agency (as the regulator that audits and fines for non-compliance).

DEFRA owns EPR. PPT sits with HMRC instead - two separate departments, two separate compliance regimes. When you see "DEFRA-aligned rates" on this site, we mean the schedule of fees and rules DEFRA has published at gov.uk. EPR is a relatively new and evolving scheme, so the rules change often - we sync within 24 hours of any published update.

The UK regulator that enforces packaging EPR compliance in England. The EA audits producer submissions, investigates non-registration, and can levy civil sanctions or prosecute persistent breaches.

Equivalent bodies handle enforcement in the devolved nations: Natural Resources Wales, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency. Your reporting obligations are the same across the UK, but enforcement comes from the nation where you're registered.

EA audits typically focus on whether your declared tonnage matches your purchase records, and whether the material categorisation lines up with how you actually use the packaging. Packlah keeps a reproducible audit trail for every calculation, with the rate snapshot in force at the time, exactly because EA inspectors ask for that level of evidence.

The categories of plastic packaging component that are outside the scope of PPT entirely - regardless of their recycled content. Excluded packaging does not count toward the 10-tonne threshold and is not charged to tax. It is distinct from the 30% recycled exemption, which is an exemption based on content; excluded packaging is out of scope based on what it is or how it is used.

The main excluded categories under HMRC rules are: packaging that is an integral part of goods and cannot be separated from them before use; packaging used as transport packaging on goods imported into the UK (the packaging in which the goods arrived, not packaging added in the UK); immediate packaging for human medicinal products (regulated by the MHRA); packaging for aircraft, ship, and rail stores; and packaging that is permanently set aside for non-packaging uses.

Transport packaging on imported goods is the most commonly misunderstood exclusion. It covers the packaging that the imported goods actually arrived in - the plastic tray a food product was placed in overseas, for example. But if you add UK packaging to imported goods after arrival, that added packaging is in scope.

If you believe a component falls into an excluded category, keep records of why. HMRC can challenge exclusions on audit, and "we thought it was excluded" is not a defence without documentation.

The principle that the businesses producing or supplying packaging should pay for what happens to it at the end of its life. In the UK, the packaging EPR scheme (pEPR) replaced the old Packaging Waste Regulations from April 2025. Producers above defined thresholds now pay per-tonne fees to fund local authority kerbside collection and recycling.

EPR is "extended" because liability stretches beyond the point of sale. Traditional cost-of-disposal regimes put the bill on the council; EPR puts it on the producer who placed the packaging on the market - the brand owner, importer, packer/filler or online marketplace.

Fees are calculated per tonne per material category. From the 2026 scheme year, fees are also modulated by the recyclability of the specific item: more recyclable = lower fee. EPR is separate from PPT - same packaging data, different liability, different regulator. Most UK F&B distributors above small-business scale need to handle both.

A packaging material made primarily from paper or board but with non-fibre layers added for barrier or sealing properties. Examples include bagasse clamshells with a plastic lining, plastic-coated paper cups, and folding cartons with foil layers. From an EPR fees perspective, fibre-based composite is a separate material category with its own (relatively high) base fee.

The category exists because fibre-composites are harder to recycle than pure fibre - the plastic lining contaminates the paper recycling stream unless it can be separated. As a result, modulation tends to penalise composites with high plastic content and reward those with thin or compostable linings.

If you supply F&B operators with takeaway packaging, fibre-based composite is likely your largest exposure. Calculating it correctly per-SKU is the difference between an accurate quarterly bill and an unpleasant surprise.

Companies that are part of the same corporate group can apply to register as a single entity for Plastic Packaging Tax, rather than each subsidiary registering and filing separately. Under group registration, one company (the representative member) submits a single quarterly return and makes a single payment covering the group's combined PPT liability.

The administrative benefit is real: one return, one payment, one record-keeping process, rather than one per legal entity. For groups with several operating companies all handling plastic packaging, this reduces the compliance overhead significantly.

The trade-off is joint and several liability. Every company in the registered group is jointly responsible for the group's PPT debt. If the representative member fails to pay, HMRC can pursue any other member of the group for the full amount. This is the same structure as VAT group registration, and it carries the same risk - it is worth your finance team understanding before you apply.

To be eligible, companies must be under common control - broadly, one company must hold a majority interest in the others, or a single person or company controls them all. HMRC's guidance sets out the eligibility test in detail. Groups that include non-UK entities need to think carefully about which entities to include, as the rules apply to UK-resident companies.

The UK government department responsible for collecting taxes - and the body that administers Plastic Packaging Tax. If EPR is a packaging-industry compliance regime (run by DEFRA and PackUK), PPT is a straightforward tax collected by the same authority that handles VAT, corporation tax, and PAYE.

PPT returns are filed through Government Gateway - the same portal most businesses already use for VAT. Returns are quarterly, due by the last working day of the month following the end of each quarterly accounting period. Payment is due at the same time as the return.

HMRC has powers to audit PPT records, issue penalties for late or incorrect returns, and charge interest on unpaid tax. The civil penalty structure is similar to VAT: late registration, late filing, and errors in returns all carry separate charges. Unlike EPR, there is no scheme administrator sitting between you and HMRC. You register directly, file directly, and pay directly.

For UK EPR, an importer is the business that first brings packaged products into the UK from overseas, where there is no UK brand owner already obligated. Importers carry EPR liability for the packaging that arrives with the imported goods, in the same way a domestic brand owner would.

For PPT, the importer concept is even more central. The party that imports plastic packaging into the UK is the obligated party for PPT, regardless of who owns the brand. If you buy own-brand stock from a supplier in Spain or China and resell it to UK customers, you're the importer for both regimes.

Importers must register, declare the tonnage of packaging they brought in across the scheme year, and pay base fees. Many distributors don't realise they qualify as importers until they audit their supply chain, which is exactly the kind of exposure Packlah surfaces during onboarding.

A UK packaging EPR tier for businesses above both turnover and tonnage thresholds. Under current published DEFRA guidance, a large producer is a UK business with annual turnover of £2 million or more and at least 50 tonnes of packaging placed on the UK market in the previous calendar year.

Large producers carry the full set of obligations: registration with PackUK, bi-annual data submissions, full base fees, modulation by recyclability, and detailed per-SKU material breakdown. This is where the manual workload becomes impossible past a couple of hundred SKUs - and where Packlah saves the most time.

Use our free producer quiz to check which tier you sit in. Note that EPR's "large producer" tier is separate from the PPT 10-tonne threshold - you can be small for EPR but liable for PPT, or vice versa.

The mechanism that adjusts EPR fees up or down depending on how recyclable a specific packaging item is. A plastic bottle with high recycled content and clean monomaterial construction pays less than the base fee. A black plastic tray that's near-impossible to sort and recycle pays a multiple of the base fee.

Modulation is the lever DEFRA is using to push producers toward designing more recyclable packaging. The methodology behind it is the Recyclability Assessment Methodology (RAM), which scores each packaging item against criteria like material purity, colour, separability and recycled content.

For producers, modulation makes the per-SKU calculation important. Two SKUs in the same material category can end up with very different EPR fees if their recyclability scores differ. Packlah handles modulation per item, automatically, so you see the right fee for every SKU - not just the base rate.

A category of obligated party added to UK packaging EPR for platforms that host third-party sellers - typically Amazon, eBay, Etsy and similar. Where an overseas seller uses a UK marketplace to sell into the UK, the marketplace itself becomes the obligated party for the packaging that arrives with those goods.

This is a meaningful change from earlier producer responsibility schemes. It was added because regulators couldn't practically enforce against thousands of small overseas sellers, so the obligation falls on the platform instead.

If you sell on your own website or through a UK distributor, this category doesn't apply to you - you're still a brand owner or importer in the normal way. Online marketplace only applies to platforms hosting third-party sellers.

The UK's implementation of Extended Producer Responsibility specifically for packaging waste. The "p" prefix distinguishes it from EPR schemes for other waste streams (batteries, electronics, vehicles), which the UK runs separately.

pEPR launched in April 2025 and replaced the previous Packaging Waste Regulations (PRN/PERN system). The big shift: fees are now paid directly to a scheme administrator (PackUK) and flow to local authorities, rather than producers buying recovery notes from accredited reprocessors.

pEPR is what most UK food and packaging distributors mean when they say "EPR" in 2026 - it's the dominant cost driver, the source of the per-tonne base fees, and the regime that the Recyclability Assessment Methodology applies to.

The scheme administrator for UK packaging EPR. PackUK is the body that takes producer registrations, collects data submissions, runs the fee invoicing, and distributes payments to local authorities for their kerbside collection costs.

PackUK sits between DEFRA (which sets policy and rates) and the producers (who pay). Most producers either register directly with PackUK or join a compliance scheme that handles the relationship on their behalf.

PackUK's data requirements drive a lot of the per-SKU detail Packlah is built to capture - material category breakdown, recyclability flags, recycled content percentage. Submissions go in twice a year for large producers and once a year for small producers. PackUK runs EPR; HMRC runs PPT.

The export equivalent of a PRN - issued when UK packaging waste was exported abroad for recycling, with the receiving country's evidence of processing accepted as proof. PERNs were often cheaper than domestic PRNs, which drew a lot of political criticism over UK waste being shipped overseas with limited oversight.

Under pEPR, exports are still permitted but the regulatory framework around them is tighter. Producers don't directly purchase PERNs in the same way - the scheme administrator handles those flows.

If you're a distributor whose customers used to credit PERNs against their compliance cost, that mechanism doesn't apply under the new regime in the same way. Packlah's historical snapshots still hold PRN/PERN data for periods before the transition, but new calculations use the pEPR base-fee model.

The legal phrase that defines what counts toward your EPR tonnage. Packaging is "placed on the market" the first time it's made available in the UK for distribution or use - which usually means the moment you sell it to a customer, give it away, or use it to ship a sold product.

Stock sitting in your warehouse hasn't been placed on the market yet. Stock sold to a UK customer has, even if it hasn't physically left your warehouse. Packaging used for your own internal operations (transit pallets, warehouse stretch wrap) generally counts, because you placed it on the market when you bought it.

For PPT, the equivalent concept is when plastic packaging is "manufactured" or "imported" - similar but not identical to EPR's placed-on-market test. Both regimes can catch the same SKUs, but the date of liability can differ.

HMRC's legal unit of account for Plastic Packaging Tax. A plastic packaging component is any item of packaging that is made wholly or predominantly from plastic and is designed to be used for the containment, protection, handling, delivery, or presentation of goods.

The definition is broader than you might expect. The obvious items are included - bottles, trays, tubs, films, bags, pouches. But so are some less obvious ones: closures and caps (they are separate components from the bottle), adhesive labels with a plastic backing layer, plastic banding, and plastic netting around produce. If it is predominantly plastic and has a packaging function, it is likely a component.

Each component is assessed separately for its 30% recycled content and its taxable weight. A bottle and its plastic cap are two separate components with two separate assessments - even though they ship together. This matters because the cap might have different recycled content from the bottle body.

Components that are excluded from PPT entirely - such as immediate packaging for human medicines - are listed under excluded plastic packaging. Everything else that meets the definition is in scope and needs to be counted toward your 10-tonne threshold.

A UK tax on plastic packaging components that contain less than 30% recycled plastic content by weight. PPT came into force on 1 April 2022 and is administered by HMRC - making it a tax matter rather than an environmental scheme, which is an important distinction. PPT returns go to HMRC via Government Gateway; EPR returns go to PackUK. Two separate regimes, two separate reporting processes.

The current rate is approximately £223 per tonne (this is a placeholder figure - check HMRC's published rate before relying on it for calculations, as it is indexed annually). The tax applies to any business that manufactures or imports 10 or more tonnes of plastic packaging in a rolling 12-month period - the 10-tonne threshold.

PPT is charged on the weight of the plastic component, not the whole pack. If a tray weighs 20g total but only 12g is plastic, the taxable weight is 12g. That distinction matters when you are working out your quarterly liability. And unlike EPR, there is no per-material-category breakdown - plastic is plastic, and the single rate applies.

The process of registering with HMRC for Plastic Packaging Tax. Registration is done online through Government Gateway - the same portal used for VAT registration. You need to provide details of your business, the nature of your plastic packaging activity (manufacturer, importer, or both), and an estimate of your annual volumes.

You must register within 30 days of first meeting - or expecting to meet - the 10-tonne threshold. The clock starts from the point you cross or expect to cross the threshold, not from the end of the quarter or year. Late registration carries a financial penalty, and HMRC can back-date the liability to the date you should have registered.

Registration gives you a PPT registration number, which appears on PPT returns and which you may be asked to provide to customers or suppliers as evidence that you are registered and accounting for PPT correctly. Some supply chain contracts now include PPT registration as a due-diligence requirement.

Once registered, you file quarterly returns regardless of whether tax is due in a given period. There is no equivalent of the VAT annual accounting scheme for PPT - all registered businesses file quarterly.

The packaging in direct contact with the product, designed to be presented to and used by the end consumer. A drinks bottle, a crisp packet, a takeaway cup, a yoghurt pot - all primary packaging.

Primary packaging is the category that attracts the most EPR scrutiny because it's the most visible to consumers and the most likely to end up in household kerbside collection. It's also where modulation has the biggest impact, because primary packaging design choices (colour, material purity, recycled content) drive recyclability scores.

For PPT purposes, primary packaging that's plastic with under 30% recycled content is liable - and primary plastic packaging is the largest taxable category for most F&B operators. Most UK food and packaging distributors' SKU catalogues are dominated by primary packaging.

The mechanism used by the previous UK packaging regulations (pre-pEPR) for evidencing that recovery and recycling targets had been met. PRNs were issued by accredited reprocessors and exporters per tonne of material recycled, and producers bought enough PRNs to cover their obligation.

Under pEPR, the PRN system has largely been replaced by direct base-fee payments to PackUK. Producers no longer buy PRNs to cover their compliance obligation - they pay fees instead, and PackUK handles the recycling funding.

That said, PRNs still exist as a legacy mechanism for some materials and transition arrangements. If your supplier still references PRN costs in their quotes, ask whether those are legacy charges or whether the base-fee model now applies.

The umbrella term for the businesses obligated under UK packaging EPR. There are several producer categories, and a single business can fall into more than one at the same time.

The main producer categories are: brand owner (whose label is on the product), packer/filler (who physically packs the goods), importer (first to bring goods into the UK), distributor selling empty packaging for use by another business, service provider supplying packaging to others, and online marketplace hosting overseas sellers.

For each item of packaging, only one producer carries the EPR obligation - the rule is generally that the closest party to the consumer takes the bill. PPT uses a different test - whoever manufactures or imports the plastic packaging component is liable - so the obligated party can differ between the two regimes.

PPT runs on calendar quarters. The four periods are: 1 January - 31 March, 1 April - 30 June, 1 July - 30 September, and 1 October - 31 December. Returns and payment for each period are due by the last working day of the month following the quarter end - so the January-March quarter return is due by the last working day of April, and so on.

For most businesses already running quarterly VAT returns, the rhythm will feel familiar. You total the tax-due weight of all in-scope plastic packaging components you manufactured or imported in the quarter, subtract any that qualify for the 30% recycled exemption or fall under excluded categories, apply the current rate, and pay the result.

If your liability for a period is nil - because all your components were above 30% recycled or fell into excluded categories - you still need to file a nil return. HMRC requires a return every quarter once you are registered, even if nothing is owed.

Late filing and late payment attract automatic penalties, just as VAT does. Diarising the four due dates at the start of the year is the simplest way to avoid an easily avoidable problem.

The framework that scores how recyclable each packaging item actually is, with the score driving the modulation discount or uplift applied to its EPR fee. RAM looks at material purity, colour, separability of components, recycled content, contamination risk, and whether the item can be processed by current UK recycling infrastructure.

RAM scores typically fall into bands - "red" (poorly recyclable, fee uplift), "amber" (acceptable, base fee), and "green" (highly recyclable, fee discount). The specific multipliers per band are set by DEFRA and reviewed periodically.

RAM is the reason per-SKU calculation matters. Two SKUs in the same material category can have wildly different EPR fees if one is a clear monomaterial and the other has carbon-black colouring and a mixed-material lid. Packlah handles RAM scoring inputs at the SKU level, so the right fee lands automatically.

For PPT purposes, recycled plastic is plastic that has been reprocessed from recovered waste material - whether post-consumer (collected from households or businesses after use) or pre-consumer (manufacturing off-cuts and rejects that would otherwise go to waste). Both types count toward the 30% recycled threshold.

The key requirement is evidence. HMRC expects you to hold records that substantiate any recycled content claim - typically certificates from your material supplier or converter showing the recycled content percentage, the origin of the waste stream, and the reprocessing method. "We think it's around 25%" does not satisfy HMRC on audit. You need a document trail.

Some materials that look recycled do not qualify. Virgin material that has been blended with recycled content but lacks supplier certification does not count. Material recovered during the manufacturing process and immediately reused in the same process (sometimes called "in-house regrind") may or may not qualify depending on whether it entered the waste stream first.

If your supplier cannot provide recycled content certificates, treat the component as containing 0% recycled plastic for PPT purposes. That is the conservative approach and the one HMRC expects in the absence of evidence.

The outer packaging that groups primary packaging units together - typically for shelf display or bulk handling. The cardboard outer that holds 12 cans together, the shrinkwrap around a six-pack of bottles, the box of 24 takeaway cups: all secondary packaging.

Secondary packaging counts toward your EPR tonnage at the point you place it on the market, just like primary packaging. It's usually a smaller proportion of total tonnage than primary, but corrugated cardboard - the dominant secondary material - has a meaningful base fee, so it's worth tracking.

Plastic secondary packaging (shrinkwrap, banding) is also caught by PPT if it falls below the 30% recycled threshold. Secondary packaging often gets missed during EPR and PPT data collection because it's less visible at the customer end.

Packaging designed to be used once and then discarded - in contrast to reusable or refillable formats. The vast majority of UK food and beverage packaging is single-use: takeaway cups, sandwich boxes, crisp packets, drinks bottles, food trays.

Single-use packaging is the primary focus of EPR fees because it represents the largest volume of household kerbside waste. Reusable formats (deposit return schemes, refill packaging) typically attract reduced obligations because the packaging unit is reused multiple times before becoming waste.

If you're shifting your customers toward reusable or refillable formats, the EPR and PPT savings can be substantial - and Packlah's scenario modelling lets you quantify them before committing to a switch.

The lower EPR tier for businesses above the reporting threshold but below the large producer band. Under current published DEFRA guidance, a small producer is a UK business with annual turnover of £1 million or more and 25 tonnes or more of packaging placed on the UK market - but not yet at the large producer threshold of £2m / 50t.

Small producers register with PackUK, submit packaging data annually rather than bi-annually, and pay reduced base fees. They're subject to the same audit risk as large producers, but the workload is lighter.

Roughly two-thirds of UK food and packaging distributors sit in the small producer band. Use our free producer quiz to check.

HMRC's term for the point at which a plastic packaging component is treated as having been "manufactured" in the UK - triggering potential PPT liability for the business that carried out the modification. It matters because the tax arises at manufacture or import, so whoever does the last substantial modification to the component before it enters the supply chain is treated as its manufacturer for PPT purposes.

Substantial modification covers processes that fundamentally change the component's structure or function: cutting, moulding, shaping, printing, labelling where the label becomes part of the component, and similar operations. The test is whether the process has materially changed what the item is, not just how it looks. Decorative printing on an otherwise complete bottle is unlikely to be substantial modification. Thermoforming a sheet of plastic into a tray is.

For most packaging distributors, this term is most relevant when you are also a converter - taking raw plastic sheet or film and forming it into packaging. In that case you are the manufacturer for PPT purposes and the tax arises in your hands, not your customer's.

If you only buy finished components and resell or import them, substantial modification probably does not apply to your own operations - but it is worth confirming with an adviser if you do any processing on items before despatch.

The weight of plastic in a plastic packaging component that is chargeable to PPT, expressed in kilograms and then converted to tonnes for the quarterly return. PPT is charged on the plastic element of the component only - non-plastic parts (metal fastenings, paper labels, glass inserts) are excluded from the taxable weight even if they are physically attached to the component.

HMRC expects you to calculate this from supplier specifications or direct measurement. For standard components, your supplier should be able to give you the plastic weight per unit. For more complex multi-material components, you may need to break down the bill of materials to isolate the plastic weight.

Once you have the plastic weight per unit, the quarterly maths is straightforward: plastic weight per unit (kg) x units placed on market or imported in the period, divided by 1,000 to convert to tonnes, multiplied by the current PPT rate (approximately £223 per tonne - placeholder, check HMRC for the current figure). Components above the 30% recycled threshold are excluded from that total before you apply the rate.

Keeping accurate unit-level plastic weight data is the foundation of a clean PPT return - and of an audit you can survive.

The packaging used to move goods through the supply chain - pallets, stretch wrap, edge protectors, transit cartons - rather than to present products to consumers. Tertiary packaging is often invisible to the end customer but it's real packaging that's placed on the UK market, and it counts toward your EPR tonnage.

For most distributors, the dominant tertiary materials are wood (pallets) and plastic (stretch wrap, banding). Wood has one of the lowest EPR base fees and plastic one of the highest - so a pallet-heavy operation looks very different from one running mostly stretch wrap.

Plastic tertiary packaging counts for PPT too, unless it qualifies as excluded packaging (transport packaging on imported goods, for example, can fall outside PPT scope).

The total weight, in metric tonnes, of packaging you place on the UK market in a scheme year - the primary input to your EPR fee calculation. Tonnage is reported by material category (paper and board, plastic, glass, steel, aluminium, fibre composite, wood, other) because each material has its own base fee.

Tonnage is usually estimated rather than measured directly. Most distributors derive it from purchase data, supplier specifications and SKU-level weight data. Getting it accurate matters - under-reporting risks Environment Agency penalties, over-reporting hands money to PackUK you didn't need to pay.

For PPT, only the plastic tonnage matters - and only the plastic weight of the component, not the whole pack. Packlah holds per-SKU weight data with material splits so both calculations come off the same source of truth.