David Llewellyn argues why Defra’s pEPR base fee policy is signalling the wrong direction for sustainable packaging
When it comes to public policy on packaging waste, the direction of travel should be clear: we must accelerate to a future built on circularity, innovation, and environmental responsibility. Yet the government’s recent decisions on packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (pEPR) base fees threaten to send the UK vending and coffee-to-go sector into reverse.
From October 2025, pEPR fees for fibre-based packaging will rise, while plastic alternatives will see a reduction. This is, frankly, a backward step. Not only does it undermine the significant progress our sector has made in reducing single-use plastics, but it penalises those who have invested in sustainable, real-world solutions.
What do the pEPR fee changes mean?
Across the UK’s vending and coffee-to-go landscape, the shift away from plastic has been both dramatic and consumer-led. Today, 93% of all drinks dispensed by the vending and 24/7 automated retail sector in the UK are served in paper cups. This remarkable transition, as highlighted in the AVA Census, has been fuelled by environmental imperatives, improved recycling infrastructure, and a clear preference among consumers for packaging that aligns with their values of quality and sustainability.
At the AVA, and through our role as part of the Alliance for Fibre-Based Packaging, we have championed fibre innovation. Not as an idealistic vision of a future to come, but because it consistently delivers. Fibre-based composites perform under the most demanding conditions, protecting food and beverages, ensuring hygiene and safety, and allowing British manufacturers to lead with sustainable know-how. These aren’t abstract benefits; they are proven in everyday environments from hospital vending machines to university campuses.
In light of this, it is deeply disappointing and confusing that those who have invested in, and delivered, practical, scalable improvements in packaging sustainability are now effectively being punished by fee structures that favour plastics. This sends exactly the wrong message to the industry, consumers, and investors. It not only ignores the superior UK recycling rates of fibre packaging, but risks tipping the balance back towards cheaper, less sustainable plastics.
How should businesses respond?
Businesses who will be impacted by these base fees must continue to demonstrate resilience and push forward with the fantastic progress we have made so far. If the policy remains unchanged, the environmental and economic consequences will be significant.
Retailers, faced with rising costs for fibre, could revert to plastic purely for budgetary reasons. British fibre packaging manufacturers, who have pioneered innovative and recyclable solutions, will be squeezed, undermining domestic industry and our collective effort to deliver climate leadership. That is at odds with any practical definition of a circular economy or a credible strategy for reducing plastic waste.
The government must urgently rethink the structure and intent of pEPR fees. We need policy that reflects actual recycling performance, supports materials that are recycled at scale in the UK, and rewards enterprises that have moved away from plastic dependency. The current approach risks undoing years of hard-won progress, betraying both environmental objectives and Britain’s position as a leader in sustainable packaging innovation, not to mention its net zero targets. At the AVA, our message to Defra is simple: work with us and our partners to design practical, evidence-based policies that champion the right materials, incentivise further innovation, and protect both people and planet. Back the thousands of businesses that have aligned to a greener direction – don’t force them into retreat.
If the UK wants to be a trailblazer in the future of packaging, the signal we send on pEPR base fees is pivotal. Let’s not squander our achievements, or our industrial opportunity, by penalising the very change we have worked so hard to achieve.
David Llewellyn is Chief Executive of the AVA
