Recyclability Assessments – Everything You Need to Know

Certitude Recyclability Assessments, , ,

The UK Government´s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulations for packaging have introduced a requirement that from 1/1/25 Large Producers (those with a turnover of > £2 million and which supply more than 50T of packaging per annum) must conduct Recyclability Assessments for all packaging that becomes Household Packaging and report these assessments by 1/10/25.

The aim of the requirements is to shift the cost of managing packaging waste from the taxpayer to the producer and to make producers responsible for the full lifecycle of their packaging, from design through to end-of-life disposal or recycling.

How to do Recyclability Assessments for the Regulations?

The Recyclability Assessments must follow the specific Gov.uk Recyclability Assessment Methodology (RAM). The methodology requires that each packaging component is assessed through the life cycle stages of classification, collection, sortation, reprocessing and application and will be assigned a Red, Amber or Green rating. These ratings will be applied to the EPR fees to be paid by the producer, therefore encouraging producers to improve the recyclability of their packaging.

  • Red: means the item is challenging to recycle, often due to problematic materials or designs.
  • Amber: means the item is recyclable but may need specialised collection or reprocessing.
  • Green: means the item is widely recyclable within the UK’s current systems.

The RAM is complex and requires in depth knowledge of your packaging components, the materials used within them, their design and detailed specifications from your suppliers.

Need Help with Your Recyclability Assessments?

Watch our brief video on An Introduction to Extended Producer Responsibility and Recyclability Assessments

Watch our brief video on How to Define Household Packaging

Watch our brief video on How to Determine Packaging Components and Material Types

With our bespoke tools we can help you to: brief your teams on what is required; understand the guidance; follow the RAM; complete the Recyclability Assessments for all your components; and report to meet your compliance deadlines with Certitude.

Visit our Recyclability Assessment Tool page for further information on our Tool or Contact us for a demo of our simple to use Recyclability Assessment Tool.