Official Statistics

Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT) statistics commentary

Published 17 August 2023

Headline statistics

The headlines for Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT) statistics are:

• PPT receipts collected by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in the financial year 2022 to 2023 totalled £276 million

• as of 8 August 2023 there are 4,142 businesses registered to the PPT

• of the total plastic packaging manufactured in and imported into the UK 39% was declared as taxable under the PPT

• of the remaining 61% declared: 40% contained 30% or more recycled plastic, 21% was either exported, intended for export or converted and less than 1% was exempt because it was used for the immediate packaging of human medicines

• of the total plastic packaging declared 52% was manufactured in the UK and 48% was imported into the UK

About this release

PPT was announced at Budget 2018 and introduced on 1 April 2022. The tax applies to manufacturers and importers of plastic packaging components which contain less than 30% recycled plastic. It was introduced to provide a clear economic incentive to use recycled plastic in packaging and stimulate an uptake in recycling and collection of plastic waste. The PPT Tax Information and Impact Note published on GOV.UK includes information explaining the tax design in more depth.

This experimental official statistics publication provides an overview of the tax returns for PPT, including data regarding the registered population, for the financial year 2022 to 2023. This is the first year for which statistics are being produced. Care should be taken when interpreting these figures as the extent of future revisions is not yet known. The figures are not seasonally adjusted so particular care should be taken when looking at the quarterly information.

Plastic packaging manufacturers and importers declare their plastic packaging on fixed quarterly accounting periods ending in June, September, December and March, with returns and payments due by the last working day of the following month.

As PPT went live in April 2022, the first returns for April to June 2022 were submitted in July 2022.

Throughout this publication, dates for revenue and tonnages of plastic relate to the relevant accounting periods where tax became liable, not the dates that businesses submitted their returns or paid their taxes.

The rate applied to taxable plastic packaging was £200 per tonne for the financial year of 2022 to 2023.

Revenue

Figure 1: PPT quarterly revenue from chargeable plastic packaging manufactured in and imported into the UK in financial year 2022 to 2023

Figure 1 represents the quarterly revenue collected by the PPT in the financial year of 2022 to 2023. The chart displays that in the period of April to June 2022 and July to September 2022, the highest revenue was collected which then declined on a downwards trend in subsequent quarters.

Total plastic packaging manufactured in and imported into the UK

Businesses that manufacture or import plastic packaging into the UK must declare the amount of plastic packaging manufactured or imported to HMRC (providing they manufacture or import 10 tonnes or more of plastic packaging within a 12-month period). Since the tax came into force on 1 April 2022, only businesses that manufactured or imported 10 tonnes or more of plastic packaging since this date were liable to register.

Table 1: total amount of plastic packaging manufactured in and imported into the UK in financial year 2022 to 2023

Plastic packaging type declared	Tonnage (thousands of tonnes)
Imported into the UK	1,689
Manufactured in the UK	1,813
Total	3,502

Table 1 demonstrates the total amount of plastic packaging declared that is either manufactured in or imported into the UK in financial year 2022 to 2023.

Figure 2: proportional split of plastic packaging manufactured in and imported into the UK in the financial year 2022 to 2023

Figure 2 demonstrates the 48% to 52% proportional split between the imported and manufactured plastic packaging declared in financial year 2022 to 2023.

Figure 3: total amount of plastic packaging manufactured in and imported into the UK in each financial quarter in 2022 to 2023

Figure 3 displays the quarterly breakdowns of plastic packaging that is manufactured in or imported into the UK. Figure 3 demonstrates that the imported tonnage of plastic declared was the highest in the period of April to June 2022 and has consistently declined in subsequent quarters. The tonnage of plastic packaging that was manufactured in the UK was the highest in the period of July to September 2022 and has varied in each financial quarter.

Relieved and exempt plastic packaging

Businesses are required to report to HMRC plastic packaging that is relieved or exempt from the tax. There are three scenarios where businesses can do this:

1. Businesses can claim tax relief if their chargeable plastic packaging components are exported out of the UK or converted into another chargeable plastic packaging component by claiming a tax credit. Additionally, businesses can defer the tax where they intend to directly export the plastic packaging component within the next 12 months. Liability for the tax is cancelled where the export takes place within that period. From here on, and in the data that follows, this is referred to as “exported or converted”.

2. Businesses can claim an exemption from PPT if the plastic packaging is used for the immediate packaging of human medicinal products.

3. Businesses must report where their plastic packaging contains 30% or more recycled plastic.

HMRC does not collect data about the recycled content in plastic packaging that is exported or converted or used for the immediate packaging of human medicinal products.

Table 2: total amount of plastic packaging that was relieved or exempt in financial year 2022 to 2023

Plastic packaging type declared	Tonnage (thousands of tonnes)
Exported or converted	721
Immediate packaging of human medicinal products	19
30% or more recycled plastic	1,392

Figure 4: total amount of plastic packaging that was relieved and exempt in each financial quarter in 2022 to 2023

Figure 4 represents the tonnage of plastic packaging that was relieved and exempt from tax due to the above conditions on a quarterly basis. The figure represents the following trends:

• plastic packaging declared as having 30% or more recycled content made up the largest proportion of the relieved and exempt plastic packaging in all financial quarters except the period of April to June 2022 where plastic packaging that was exported or converted made up the largest proportion
• the tonnage of plastic packaging used for the immediate packaging of human medicinal products was significantly lower than the other categories making up on average 0% in each financial quarter

Figure 5: proportional split of plastic packaging relieved and exempt for financial year 2022 to 2023

Figure 5 represents the proportional split of plastic packaging that was relieved and exempt in the financial year of 2022 to 2023. The figure displays that plastic packaging containing 30% or more recycled content made up 65%, plastic packaging that was exported or converted made up 34%, and plastic packaging that was used for the immediate packaging of human medicinal products made up 1% of the total exempt and relieved plastic packaging declared.

Taxable plastic packaging compared to relieved and exempt plastic packaging

Figure 6: total amount of taxable plastic packaging compared to relieved and exempt plastic packaging in each financial quarter in 2022 to 2023

Figure 6 demonstrates the following trends for the tonnages of plastic packaging declared:

• the tonnage of taxable plastic packaging was lower than the tonnage of plastic packaging that was relieved or exempt in all financial quarters in 2022 to 2023

• the tonnage of relieved and exempt plastic packaging in the final two quarters was largely lower than previous quarters

Figure 7: proportional split of taxable plastic packaging compared to relieved and exempt plastic packaging in financial year 2022 to 2023

Figure 7 demonstrates the percentage shares between taxable and relieved and exempt plastic packaging. The chart demonstrates that 39% of plastic packaging is taxable and 61% is relieved or exempt.