Packaging EPR compliance schemes for importers
Confirm with your environmental regulator whether a packaging compliance scheme can register your business and report packaging data on your behalf. It can meet recycling obligations if you are a large producer. It charges for its services and cannot pay your waste disposal fees. Factory packaging data can be collected by Cambridge China Bridge.
Check the approved register before signing
Start with our guide to whether packaging EPR applies. Once you know your position, use the GOV.UK register of compliance schemes to check a proposed provider. The register lists approved schemes, registered with the environmental regulator for the appropriate nation.
Match the proposed scheme’s name against the register for the relevant year. Ask it to explain any difference between its registered name, trading name and contract name. Save the register entry with the proposal, and resolve any mismatch before signing.
Agree the reporting and recycling work
Confirm with your environmental regulator whether a scheme can register you and report your packaging data on your behalf. For large producers, it can meet recycling obligations by buying packaging waste recycling notes or packaging waste export recycling notes. These fund recycling; do not assume the service includes collecting waste from your warehouse.
Ask for a written scope covering the businesses included, data checks, submission timetable, recycling evidence and corrections. Request separate explanations of service charges and recycling costs. GOV.UK confirms that schemes charge for their services.
Give the scheme usable factory data
Before appointing a scheme, ask for its data template and send a sample product record. Agree how it wants packaging components, materials, weights and shipment quantities recorded. Name a person in your business to resolve questions and check the file before submission.
Use our packaging sourcing guide when briefing the factory. Cambridge China Bridge’s staff in China can help collect component weights and compare them with samples. Ask factories to flag packaging changes so the reporting file follows what actually ships.
Keep disposal payments with your finance team
A compliance scheme cannot pay your waste disposal fees or your PackUK notice of liability on your behalf. The notice is sent through the report packaging data portal. You must pay by the dates shown on it, so give your finance team a named owner for retrieving the notice and arranging payment.
Keep the scheme’s invoice and the PackUK notice in separate payment records. Ask the scheme to help explain discrepancies, but assign payment tracking to your business. Keep Plastic Packaging Tax separate too: the existing guide explains that it is a different regime.
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Compare proposals using the same order records
Give shortlisted schemes the same packaging file and ask each to identify missing information, explain its checks and show how it communicates completed submissions. Ask who handles urgent corrections and what records you receive when the contract ends.
Choose against the work your business needs: factory data support, reporting administration and recycling evidence. Keep an internal handover record naming the scheme contact, your data owner and your disposal-payment owner.
Frequently asked questions
How do I check a packaging compliance scheme?
Check its name in the GOV.UK register for the relevant year. Match the entry to the proposed contract and ask the provider to explain any name mismatch before signing.
Can a scheme report my packaging data?
Confirm with your environmental regulator whether a compliance scheme can register your business and report packaging data on your behalf. Agree its template, checks and submission timetable before handing over your records.
Does a scheme handle my recycling obligation?
For a large producer, it can buy packaging waste recycling notes or export recycling notes to meet recycling obligations. Ask what evidence and cost breakdown you will receive.
Can my scheme pay my PackUK disposal fees?
No. A compliance scheme cannot pay your notice of liability on your behalf. Your business must arrange payment by the dates shown on the notice.