What EPR, PRN, and PPT Actually Cost Your Glass Packaging in 2026

Three separate sets of rules now add a measurable cost to every glass bottle and jar you place on the UK market:

1.  One applies to your plastic closures and secondary packaging. 
2. The second one charges you a per-tonne disposal fee on the glass itself. 
3. And the third requires you to fund the recycling of what you put out. 

Understanding all three and how they interact is important for accurate cost planning.

Here is what each one costs, and what to do about it before the year is out.

The Plastic Packaging Tax: Your Caps and Secondary Wrap

The Plastic Packaging Tax does not apply to glass. It applies to the plastic components that travel with it: screw caps, tamper seals, plastic-lined lug caps, shrink wrap, and plastic trays.

From 1 April 2026, the rate is £228.82 per tonne on plastic packaging components containing less than 30% recycled content. If your closures and secondary packaging already meet the 30% threshold, your tax liability is zero. You still need to register with HMRC if you handle 10 tonnes or more of plastic packaging in a rolling 12-month period even if you owe nothing. The penalty for missing the registration window is a fixed £100, and it applies regardless of whether any tax was due.

The most important point here: the 10-tonne threshold is about how much you handle, not how much you owe. A business running entirely on 100% recycled plastic closures still has to register if the volume is there.

From April 2027, manufacturing scrap and industrial offcuts will no longer count towards the 30% recycled content threshold, only material that has genuinely been used and recycled by a consumer will qualify. If your current figures rely on pre-consumer scrap from your suppliers, you have the rest of 2026 to find and secure verified post-consumer alternatives. 

EPR Cost Per Bottle, in Pence

Under Extended Producer Responsibility, large packaging producers pay a waste disposal fee to cover what local authorities spend collecting and sorting household packaging. Glass household drinks containers are explicitly in scope under SI 2024/1325, that includes bottles sold to bars and restaurants, not just retail, because glass is deemed likely to enter the municipal waste stream regardless.

The fee is charged per tonne, which creates a direct weight penalty for glass.

The confirmed Year 1 base fee for glass is £192 per tonne. For Year 2 (covering packaging placed on the market in 2025), published illustrative fees introduce a three-tier structure based on how recyclable your packaging actually is:

With 91% of glass rated green, most producers will pay £185 per tonne in Year 2, giving an average induced fee of approximately £190 per tonne. In cash per unit at that rate::

• Standard 470g wine bottle: approximately 8.7p
• 550g spirit bottle: approximately 10.2p
• 750g premium bottle: approximately 13.9p

If your packaging gets a red rating, those figures rise by around 32%. On a 550g bottle, that is 13.5p instead of 10.2p – a 3.3p difference per unit that compounds across every SKU at volume.

The red fee multiplier rises on a confirmed schedule: 1.6 times the base rate in Year 3 (2027/28) and 2.0 times in Year 4 (2028/29). On current base rates, red-rated packaging in 2028/29 would cost approximately £410 per tonne — versus around £185 for green. For that same 550g spirit bottle, you would be paying 22.6p instead of 10.2p. Producers carrying red-rated packaging today are accumulating that exposure every year they delay a fix.

The design changes that move your rating

Most standard glass bottles and jars are already green-rated. The features that push a rating to red or amber are specific and fixable:

• Ceramic swing-stoppers or metal collars that cannot be separated from the bottle by hand
• Full-body shrink sleeves covering more than 60% of the glass surface
• Bespoke or frosted glass colours outside standard clear, amber, and green

Switching to hand-separable closures and keeping labels below the 60% threshold are the two fastest moves available. Standard bottles and jars with conventional closures as we offer via our  Jars & Bottles range, are built to avoid these risk points.

PRNs: Your Recycling Evidence Obligation

The Packaging Recovery Note system requires producers to fund the recycling of the packaging they place on the market by purchasing evidence notes from accredited reprocessors. The confirmed 2026 glass recycling target is 78%, up from 77% in 2025.

For glass, a proportion of that obligation must be met using “re-melt” evidence – glass reprocessed back into new glass – rather than lower-value routes such as aggregate.

Most producers handle this through a packaging compliance scheme. If you purchase PRNs directly, one practical point: glass PRN prices have a consistent pattern of spiking in December as the compliance year closes. Securing your re-melt portion before November is reliably cheaper than leaving it to the last few weeks.

A consultation launched in March 2026 proposes reforms including mandatory loss reporting by reprocessors and a compliance fee option for market shortfalls. Watch for the outcome, particularly the compliance fee proposal, which would change how year-end exposure is managed.

What to Do Before the End of 2026

1. Register for PPT if you are at or near 10 tonnes of plastic packaging. Recycled content level does not change the registration requirement. The window is 30 days from crossing the threshold.
2. Audit your plastic components against the 30% post-consumer recycled content standard before April 2027. Find out which closures and secondary packaging currently rely on pre-consumer scrap, and start the supplier conversation now.
3. Check your EPR tonnage data. Year 1 fees are based on data submitted for 2024. The amendment window for H1 2026 data closes on 1 October 2026 — corrections after that date will not reduce your obligation.
4. Audit your packaging for RAM risk. Check for non-separable closures, sleeve or label coverage above 60%, and any bespoke glass colours. Each is a fixable problem with a direct and growing fee consequence.
5. Confirm your PRN route to 78% and sort the re-melt portion early. Do not leave glass PRN purchasing to November.
6. Submit nation data accurately. Large producers must report which UK nation their packaging is placed in — England, Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland. This is a mandatory 2026 reporting obligation.

Sources

1. HMRC — Plastic Packaging Tax: steps to take (last updated 12 February 2026)
2. HMRC — Penalties for Plastic Packaging Tax
3. Defra — Extended producer responsibility for packaging: recycling obligations and waste disposal fees
4. Legislation.gov.uk — The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024 (SI 2024/1325)
5. Defra — Packaging waste recycling targets 2024 to 2030
6. Defra — Year 2 illustrative waste disposal fees: Extended producer responsibility for packaging