How to register for EPR in the UK in 2026

By the end of this guide your company will hold every registration the UK requires under extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging, electronics and batteries, with the right party filing each one, whether you are established in the UK or sell into it from abroad.

How do I register for EPR in the UK?

The UK has three separate EPR registrations, one each for packaging, electronics and batteries, and they run under the UK's own rules rather than the EU's.

• Packaging is registered through Report packaging data (RPD), a Defra service, with your environmental regulator. Only a business established in the UK files it, and a compliance scheme can file it for you.
• Electronics are registered through the WEEE online service, or by the compliance scheme you join. A business that sells directly from abroad files through a UK authorised representative or joins a scheme itself.
• Batteries are registered on the National Packaging Waste Database (NPWD), or by the battery compliance scheme you join. Only a business in the UK can be a battery producer.

Each registration runs on a yearly deadline, and a business that starts selling electronics or batteries mid-year has 28 days. Each one ends in a registration number, and two of those numbers go on paperwork you give your customers.

What to gather first

Before you open any of the three services, gather these five company details and documents.

1. Your Companies House number

   All eight digits, if you are a UK company. RPD asks for it in the registration file.

2. An approved person

   For a UK company that is a director or the company secretary, and the regulator can take up to 28 days to verify them.

3. Last year's turnover and tonnages

   Packaging by material, electronics by category and batteries by category.

4. Your brand names

   Every brand name you place products under in the UK.

5. Your SIC code and your UK address

   Together they decide the regulator you register with.

The one question that decides your whole route

In the UK, "established" reaches further than a company. For packaging, a UK branch, a warehouse or even a UK postal address or returns address is enough.

Three registrations and no representative for two of them

EPR registration is national everywhere in Europe, and how to register for EPR in Europe sets out the frame. The UK sits outside the EU part of it and writes its own answers.

Across EPR in the UK the duties most producers trigger sit in three registrations. A webshop selling a packaged speaker with a battery inside touches all three, and the answer to who files each one from abroad is different every time.

Below are the UK's three registrations side by side, with charges as published in September 2026.

The packaging rules are new. UK-wide packaging EPR took over on 1 January 2025, and the old 2007 packaging regulations were revoked on 1 January 2026, the same day the registration charges went up.

Electronics changed too. Since 12 August 2025 an online marketplace is the producer for the electronics non-UK sellers sell to UK households through it.

A 6-step guide to EPR registration in the UK

This guide takes you from the first check, whether the UK counts you as the producer, to holding every registration number you need. The steps run in the order the UK's deadlines set, and each one ends with what you should have in hand before you move on.

Step 1. Confirm the UK counts you as the producer

Each of the three laws draws the line in its own place. For packaging you must be established in the UK, play one of seven roles such as brand owner, importer or seller, and pass both size lines, more than £1 million turnover and more than 25 tonnes of packaging a year.

For electronics you are the producer if you place equipment on the UK market, and that includes a business abroad selling directly to UK users. Under 5 tonnes a year you count as a small producer.

For batteries you are the producer if you are the first business in the UK to place them on the market, batteries inside your devices included.

You are done when every product line has a yes or no against each stream, and a note of which size band each yes falls in.

Step 2. Work out which registers you owe

Each yes maps to one registration. Packaging goes to Report packaging data with your environmental regulator, which is the Environment Agency, SEPA, Natural Resources Wales or the Northern Ireland Environment Agency.

Electronics go to the WEEE online service, or to the scheme you join at 5 tonnes or more. Batteries go to NPWD, through a battery scheme above 1 tonne of portable batteries a year.

Industrial and automotive batteries register with the Office for Product Safety and Standards, also on NPWD.

You are done with the list of registrations you owe. The packaged speaker owes three, in three services, under three laws. Any other stream you sell into is in the table further down this page.

Step 3. Decide who files each one

Established in the UK. You either let a compliance scheme register you or file yourself. At 5 tonnes or more of electronics, or more than 1 tonne of portable batteries, the scheme route is the only one.

Selling from abroad. Your UK importer or marketplace carries packaging and batteries unless you have a UK address, and electronics sold directly need a UK authorised representative or a scheme of your own.

You are done when each registration has a name against it, yours, your scheme's, your representative's or your UK customer's. How to appoint an EPR authorised representative walks the appointment.

Step 4. Gather what each register asks for

Each service takes a different cut of the same company data, so collect it register by register.

1. Report packaging data asks for your company details and Companies House number, the producer roles you play, your SIC code, turnover, packaging tonnage and brand names, all in one registration file.
2. The WEEE service asks for a signed application, your business location and the tonnage of equipment you placed last year in each category, split between households and businesses.
3. NPWD asks for your brand names and address for service, the battery categories you place, a contact person, and whether you comply on your own or through a scheme.

A scheme collects the same data from you when it registers you, so the list holds either way.

Step 5. Register in the order the deadlines set

The UK registers for a year ahead on fixed dates, so the calendar decides the order.

1. Open your RPD account first. It is your own step even when a scheme registers you, and the approved person check can take up to 28 days. Large packaging producers must be registered by 1 October of the year before.
2. Join a battery scheme by 15 October of the year before if you place more than 1 tonne of portable batteries.
3. Join an electronics scheme by 15 November of the year before if you place 5 tonnes or more. The scheme registers you by 30 November.
4. Register as a small producer by 31 January for electronics and by 1 April for packaging.

Choosing among schemes is a decision of its own, and how to choose a producer responsibility organisation compares them. You are done when you hold three numbers and know where each one has to appear.

Step 6. Do what each registration makes due next

Each number starts its own reporting year.

1. Packaging. Large producers report every six months, by 1 October and 1 April, buy recycling evidence for each material by 31 January and pay PackUK's disposal fee on household packaging. Small producers report once a year by 1 April.
2. Electronics. Mark every product with the crossed-out wheeled bin and a date mark, and give distributors your producer registration number. Small producers report last year's tonnage by 31 January, scheme members report through the scheme.
3. Batteries. Put your battery producer registration number on invoices and delivery notes. Small producers report tonnage and chemistry by 31 January, industrial and automotive producers by 31 March.

The other streams the UK regulates

Beyond packaging, electronics and batteries, three more streams have their own UK rules or plans.

Below is the register each one runs through, where there is one, so you can rule them in or out in one pass.

One product record behind three registrations

There are two ways through the work above, and both rest on the same product data.

Run the filings yourself

Every step above is data work before it is filing work. Packaging split by material and by household or business use, equipment sorted into the UK's categories, batteries by category and chemistry, and then the same figures again every six months or every year.

Repax Core holds one structured record per product, broken down to its materials and components, takes your sales data in through integrations or order imports, and builds each report from it.

The figures behind your RPD file, the tonnage your scheme asks for and your battery figures all come out of that one record.

Or hand the filings over

In the UK the usual way to hand the filings over is a compliance scheme. It can register you for all three, report for you and buy your packaging recycling evidence, but it cannot pay your PackUK disposal fee.

Repax Comply, linked at the top of this guide, is built around EU packaging, electronics and batteries, and it confirms coverage country by country and stream by stream. Ask before you count on it for the UK.

For the tools and schemes that handle UK packaging data today, the best UK packaging EPR software in 2026 ranks them.

6 common mistakes when registering for EPR in the UK

Below are the six mistakes producers make most often when they register in the UK.

1. Looking for an EU-style representative

   Appointing a UK representative for packaging or batteries. Neither regime has one, so the duty sits with you if you have a UK address and with your UK importer or marketplace if you do not. Only electronics use an authorised representative.

2. Missing the autumn deadlines

   Leaving the scheme sign-ups until January. Large packaging producers register by 1 October, battery schemes close on 15 October and electronics schemes on 15 November, all in the year before.

3. Expecting the scheme to pay everything

   Assuming a compliance scheme covers the whole bill. It can register you and buy your recycling evidence, but the PackUK disposal fee on household packaging is invoiced to you and stays yours to pay.

4. Stopping at the registration number

   Treating the packaging registration as the end of the duty. Large producers still report every six months, buy recycling evidence for each material and pay disposal fees.

5. Reading the deposit as packaging EPR

   Treating the deposit return scheme as your packaging registration. It starts on 1 October 2027 as a separate system with its own producer registration, and it does not replace the packaging duties above.

6. Mixing up the tax and EPR

   Counting the Plastic Packaging Tax as your packaging EPR. It is an HMRC tax with its own registration from 10 tonnes of plastic packaging, and the best UK Plastic Packaging Tax software covers it.

Frequently asked questions about registering for EPR in the UK

Below are the five questions producers ask most often about registering for EPR in the UK.

How long does this take?

The approved person check for packaging can take up to 28 days, and a mid-year electronics application is decided within 28 days. The yearly deadlines matter more, so start by 1 October for the year ahead.

Do I need a company or an address in the UK?

Not for electronics, where a UK authorised representative or a scheme can carry you. For packaging and batteries you are only the producer with a UK presence, and without one your UK importer or marketplace carries the duty.

Which register do I start with?

Report packaging data, because the account is yours to open even when a scheme registers you, and large producers must be registered by 1 October. Battery and electronics schemes follow on 15 October and 15 November.

Can Repax register for me?

Ask about the UK first. Repax Comply is built around EU packaging, electronics and batteries and confirms coverage country by country. A UK compliance scheme can register you, and Repax Core prepares the data the scheme and RPD ask for.

What happens if I sell in the UK without registering?

Doing business as a producer without being registered is a criminal offence under each of the three laws. A conviction in the higher courts carries a fine with no set maximum, and for packaging the regulators can also impose civil penalties.