What changed, and what did not
The Environment Agency’s RPS 383 sets out when it will not normally take enforcement action over certain 2026 packaging recycling obligations in England. It does not change the legal requirements to register, report packaging data or comply with recycling obligations. [1]
That distinction gives a compliance team two different questions to answer: what remains due under the statutory regime, and whether its documented position meets the conditions of the regulator’s enforcement statement. Treating the second answer as a replacement for the first would obscure the compliance record. [1]
Calculate from the obligation, not the packaging tonnage
For the 2026 compliance year, the RPS requires at least 83% of the statutory recycling obligation for plastic, 92% for steel and 90% for wood. Producers and schemes must continue to meet their full obligation for other packaging materials. [1]
The denominator is the statutory recycling obligation for the material, not simply the total mass of packaging supplied. As an illustrative calculation, a plastic recycling obligation of 1,000 tonnes gives an RPS minimum of 830 tonnes: 1,000 multiplied by 0.83. This is arithmetic applied to an assumed obligation, not a statement that a business supplying 1,000 tonnes of plastic has that recycling obligation. [1]
Keep the original obligation in the evidence file
The RPS requires records to be kept for five years from its last use, showing that its conditions were met and available to the Environment Agency on request. [1]
A useful working file therefore retains the original material-by-material obligation, the applicable RPS proportion, the resulting amount and the evidence used to establish that amount. Keeping the original obligation visible also prevents the reduced enforcement figure from being carried into other materials or future compliance years. This file structure is our editorial interpretation of the stated conditions, not an additional statutory form prescribed by the RPS. [1]
A non-enforcement position does not produce a compliant certificate
The statement expressly says that the end-of-year Certificate of Compliance will record non-compliance with statutory recycling obligations where those obligations are not met, even when the producer complies with the RPS conditions. [1]
For compliance reporting, a conditional enforcement position and a compliant certificate are therefore different outputs. Internal reporting should identify which one is being described. Neither a scheme membership nor a spreadsheet using the reduced percentages, on its own, establishes that every condition has been met. [1]
Recheck the live position before relying on it
The Environment Agency says it will withdraw RPS 383 on 31 January 2027 and may amend or withdraw it earlier. The page also says the position remains in force until removed from GOV.UK or identified as withdrawn. [1]
Those statements make the live publication status a control point rather than a date to assume away. Reopen the official statement when relying on it and before its planned withdrawal date. If the conditions cannot be met, section 5 directs the producer or scheme to tell the Environment Agency immediately. This article does not extend the position to Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland or another compliance year. [1]
Related reading: UK packaging EPR disposal fees and assessment-year timing. Those fee questions remain separate from the recycling-obligation enforcement position considered here.
Sources and scope
[1] Environment Agency, Compliance with the packaging producer recycling obligations in 2026: RPS 383, published 9 October 2026, opening and sections 1–5; sources checked 24 October 2026. The interpretation and assumed-tonnage example are identified above.
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