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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the packaging extended producer responsibility scheme on glass producers.

In October 2024, the Government published an updated assessment of the impact of introducing the Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging (pEPR) scheme on packaging producers as a whole. This impact assessment did not split the assessment by sector.

The Government has worked closely with industry, including the glass sector, throughout development of pEPR. Feedback from stakeholders was factored into finalising the regulations, including formally consulting stakeholders on a draft of the pEPR regulations in 2023.

We are encouraging the glass industry to seek to reduce the cost impacts of pEPR through a transition to reuse and refill. This 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 the end of its life, thereby avoiding the vast majority of pEPR fees.