Nick Gillett: EPR is hitting spirits hard

By Nick Gillett

Published: 10 November, 2025

October marked the beginning of fees coming into play for the notorious Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme – the UK government’s latest attempt at minimising waste packaging in our supply chains. Now, this new scheme’s effects are far reaching, it spans industries and channels but I would argue there are few worse affected than spirits.

Is the intention behind EPR noble? Yes, of course – it shifts the burden of waste on to the polluter, which is the right idea. You pollute, you pay more. But as with most things, it’s within the fine print that Government has once again fumbled the detail. Allow me to explain.

Plastic comes out on top

The biggest issue I have with the EPR scheme is that pollution is calculated by weight. Now, I’m sure this is with the aim of keeping things simple for the calculations, but let’s think about it in practice.

Businesses will be charged on the ‘weight’ of their waste. Glass bottles weigh around 40 times more than their plastic equivalents so, as a businessperson, what material would you then choose for your packaging? The way this scheme is set up means that for many, the simplest and most cost-effective thing to do, will be to choose virgin plastic for their packaging. As an alternative, glass is not a perfect solution – but it’s infinitely recyclable, non-toxic, and largely made from abundant natural materials like sand. Alternatively, conventional plastic takes hundreds of years to decompose and cannot be recycled more than twice.

Call me a cynic, but weren’t the big beverage conglomerates conveniently involved in the scheme’s design? I am sure it’s just a coincidence that plastic (their choice of material for so much of their packaging) came out on top – despite it being a sworn enemy of sustainable practice.

A devolved mess

My second issue with the EPR scheme and others like it, is the fact that they only apply to one section of the UK. I know in this small island nation of ours we each think our individually devolved region is the most important, but in global terms (at least for spirits) we are a tiny market by comparison.

Every devolved nation has its own scheme and approach, with different processes and bureaucracy for each. The time and cost for businesses to meet the needs of these schemes is incredulous, so if you are an international producer you might just decide not to bother trading in the UK at all. Why deal with four different schemes and all the bureaucracy attached to them, when you could invest in other markets? If things continue this way, the result will be less choice on our shelves and in our bars. I am all for devolution, but is it absolutely impossible now for our governments to collaborate and make things more manageable for businesses in every nation? Apparently, it is.

The punitive approach

It’s always the way – governments use tax as a weapon to drive behaviour change. Sometimes that might work, but at a time where businesses (especially in hospitality) are already fighting for their lives, is it morally right? You have legislated in such a way that the cost of employment has soared, you have taken away business rate relief, and you have put us on a ridiculous alcohol duty escalator. These costs have all ramped up in a 24-month period, and now you wield yet another stick, instead of the proverbial carrot.

Every piece of evidence tells us – whether it is consumers, or businesses – that sustainable practices are far more likely to be taken up where it is commercially viable. There are an abundance of public pots of money dedicated to greenifying UK industry, can’t you spend some of that dosh here? Hospitality businesses are on their knees, what about a hand up instead of a punch to the gut.

Let’s look to the future. How do businesses best manage the requirements for EPR? Well, unlike the failed DRS scheme north of the border, EPR is not going anywhere. So, it’s time to really suss out what the smartest options are for your business, long term.

First of all, you need to understand if it applies to you, and to what degree. There are exemptions, but everything’s changing so quickly, so you need to read up and get advice if you are still unsure.

If you are in the on-trade, there are ‘closed loop’ systems out there that completely eradicate the need for single-use materials, ecoSPIRITS is one. The magic of these systems is that they essentially supply your booze in reuseable caddies, then they are picked up, refilled, and returned at a frequency that works for your venue. Hence, removing the waste packaging for every bottle you would otherwise empty.

You can of course opt for lighter-weight, more sustainable alternatives like Frugalpac, or some of the aluminium options out there – but there is still going to be waste to compensate for. When it comes to premium spirits, my belief is that glass is here to stay. And given that it stacks up pretty well environmentally, can we not up our investment into glass recycling facilities? As it stands the UK recycles around 71% of container glass, with a target of upping that to 90% by 2030. Can we not invest some of those aforementioned green monies to speed that process up, make it more accessible, and bring more of that recycled glass back into the supply chain?

Maybe that is too much like common sense. Because once again our existing scheme lacks the pragmatism and perspective of industry, in how it is to be applied. Yes – we are lumped with it. But with a bit of consultation with the wider sector (not just the big boys), I imagine we would have had a better scheme, and one that encouraged more effective behaviour change than we are going to get.

Nick Gillett is MD of premium spirit specialist Mangrove UK.

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