Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of Extended Producer Responsibility packaging fees on home improvement manufacturers who sell through builders' merchants and cannot evidence that products are not destined for household waste; and if she will review household packaging classification rules to reflect end-use.

The Government published an updated assessment in October 2024 of the impact of introducing Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging. This assessed packaging producers as a whole but did not assess individual sectors or routes to market, such as home improvement manufacturers selling through builders’ merchants.

We are aware of industry concerns about producers being charged disposal fees for packaging disposed of through commercial waste streams. Defra continues to work at pace on treatment of dual-use packaging and packaging unlikely to enter the household waste stream. Any future changes would need to be workable, enforceable and protect scheme integrity.