Guidance

Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging (pEPR) fibre-based composite and paper and board obligations: RPS 351

Published 7 July 2025

Applies to England

This regulatory position statement (RPS) does not change your legal requirement to comply with your producer responsibility obligations based on the definitions that apply currently in the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024 (the 2024 regulations).

However, the Environment Agency will not normally take enforcement action against you if you do not apply the definition currently in force but choose to apply the forthcoming definitions of fibre-based composite (FBC) and paper and board.

1. Activity this RPS applies to

This RPS applies to your requirement to apply the current definition of FBC when you comply with your producer responsibility obligations in line with the 2024 regulations. 

If you are a member of a compliance scheme or group registration, some of your producer responsibility obligations fall to your scheme operator or holding company, as set out in the 2024 regulations.

This regulatory position does not apply to any other legal requirements under the 2024 regulations.

2. Things to note

The definition of FBC material will change and the introduction of a definition for paper and board will be made by amendment to the 2024 regulations. This is planned to come into force on 1 January 2026. We anticipate the definitions will be as follows:

2.1 Fibre-based composite material

This means packaging material which: 

• is made of paperboard or paper fibres, with one or more layers of plastic, and which may also have layers of other materials, to form a single unit that cannot be separated by hand
• is not in the paper or board packaging category

2.2 Paper or board

This includes packaging material which is within the description in sub-paragraph (i) of the definition of fibre-based composite material, “if the producer who supplies the packaging can provide evidence that its layer or layers of plastic are not more than 5% of the packaging material by mass”.

The forthcoming amendment will also include a provision allowing you to resubmit your 2025 packaging data to align with the new definitions of FBC and paper and board. This is likely to result in a significant number of data resubmissions which will place an additional administrative burden on producers and the Environment Agency.

This RPS allows you to rely on the forthcoming definitions ahead of amendment of the 2024 regulations. This will allow you to report data in line with the forthcoming definitions and prevent the need to resubmit data.

‘Producer responsibility obligations’ are those listed in regulation 25 of the 2024 regulations.

3. When you must check back

The Environment Agency will withdraw this RPS on 31 January 2027. 

The Environment Agency can withdraw or amend this regulatory position before the withdrawal date if they consider it necessary. This includes where the activity that this RPS relates to has not changed. 

You will need to check back from time to time, including at and before the withdrawal date, to see if this RPS still applies. 

This RPS remains in force until it is removed from GOV.UK or is otherwise identified as having been withdrawn. 

You can subscribe to email updates about this RPS. These will tell you if the RPS has changed and when it has been withdrawn. 

4. Contact the Environment Agency

If you have any questions about this RPS email enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk and put RPS 351 in the subject.