Plastic Packaging Tax

What the tax is

The UK Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT) applies to finished plastic packaging components manufactured in, or imported into, the UK that contain less than 30% recycled plastic. Since April 2026 the rate is £228.82 per tonne (the rate is uprated annually). Packaging with 30% or more recycled content is exempt — which converts certified recycled input from a sustainability talking point into a straightforward cost line.

The arithmetic is blunt. A 24-tonne container of refuse sacks made from virgin polymer carries roughly £5,490 of tax. The same container at 30%+ certified recycled content carries none. Use the calculator below with your own tonnage.

Who pays, and the importer trap

The taxable person is the UK manufacturer of the finished component or the UK importer of finished packaging — including filled packaging. Buying finished sacks, liners or carrier bags from abroad makes you, the importer, the taxpayer. This is the point our distributor customers most often discover late: the tax is not the overseas factory's problem, it is yours, and the exemption stands or falls on the evidence you hold.

Registration — even when exempt

Businesses that manufacture or import 10 tonnes or more of finished plastic packaging in a 12-month period must register with HMRC — even if everything they handle is exempt at 30%+. Registration and taxation are separate questions. A janitorial distributor importing 200 tonnes of fully exempt sacks still registers, still files, and still keeps records; it simply pays nothing.

Evidence: what HMRC expects you to hold

Exemption is claimed on evidence, and the burden sits with the taxpayer. The working standard:

Per-component recycled content records — what the component is, its weight, its recycled percentage.
Supplier documentation tying that percentage to the production run: this is exactly what our batch declarations provide, stating recycled content and its pre-/post-consumer split, referenced to the producer's certificate (RecyClass, GRS or EuCertPlast — see the certifications guide).
Due diligence on the supply chain: HMRC guidance expects importers to check their suppliers' claims, and permits joint-and-several liability where a business knew or should have known tax was unpaid in its chain.

A supplier that cannot document its recycled content is not offering you a discount; it is transferring tax risk to you at £228.82 a tonne.

What is changing

Two developments matter for buying decisions being made now (both as of mid-2026):

Mandatory certification consultation — HMRC has consulted on requiring recycled content claims to be backed by recognised certification schemes rather than self-declaration. Buyers sourcing certified-chain material today are already where the rules are heading.
Post-consumer-only qualification expected from 2027 — the direction of travel is to count only post-consumer recycled content toward the 30%, excluding pre-consumer/PIR material. Our Flow A range states the PCR/PIR split on every batch declaration precisely so customers can see whether their exemption survives that change. Most of our standard grades are 100% post-consumer.

How our supply fits

Every recycled-content product we ship — rPET flake, pellets, sheet, sacks, bags — arrives with a batch declaration stating certified recycled content and its split. For a buyer, the workflow is: file the declaration with the import entry, count the component in your quarterly return, pay nothing on exempt lines. The calculator below shows what that is worth at your volumes.

This page is general guidance, not tax advice. Rates and rules as of mid-2026 — see the "last reviewed" date above.