Extended Producer Responsibility has moved from a line item in a policy document to a line item on the balance sheet. And this is rippling across the drinks industry. Fever-Tree adjusted its earnings down by £2.8 million this year to account for EPR costs. The business has gone even further, launching a formal legal challenge against the Environment Agency over how certain glass formats should be classified under the scheme. Vinarchy UK, the company formed when Accolade merged with Pernod Ricard Winemakers, has said it would have turned a profit last year were it not for the EPR levy.
These are not small, struggling businesses. They are established, well-resourced names in the drinks industry. If EPR is proving this complicated for them, it is worth asking what it looks like for smaller less resourced companies reporting threshold for the first time with no compliance team behind it.
“We're seeing growing demand from drinks businesses looking to turn EPR from a regulatory challenge into a manageable business process. Bringing together industry experts and practitioners to share experiences and lessons learned helps reduce uncertainty and gives businesses greater confidence in the decisions they need to make."
— Claudio Martell, MBA, Product Director, Bevica
The criticism of EPR's rollout has been loud and consistent across the industry. Fee levels published by Defra sit well above equivalent schemes elsewhere in Europe, glass in particular. Businesses that assumed hospitality waste would be broadly exempt have found the exemption process narrower and harder to evidence than expected. Full modulated fees are not even settled yet, leaving businesses trying to plan against numbers that could still move.
The UK is not alone
The UK is not alone in facing this pushback. In the US, the National Association of Wholesaler Distributors recently secured a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of Oregon's EPR law, arguing it placed an unreasonable burden on distributors. Wherever EPR lands, it seems to arrive with resistance attached.
None of this is actually new, even if it feels that way inside the drinks industry right now.
What drinks can learn from the electronics industry
Electronics went through its own version of this two decades ago. When the WEEE Directive came into force in the UK in 2007, manufacturers faced the same shock: a sudden obligation to report on and fund the recovery of products they had never had to think about once they left the factory. The early years were defined by confusion over scope, cost and who actually had to comply.
What emerged from that confusion wasn't just compliance. It was an entire industry of compliance scheme operators and data specialists, businesses that existed purely to take the reporting burden off manufacturers so they could focus on making and selling products. Two decades on, that infrastructure is simply part of how electronics operates. Nobody in the sector thinks of it as a crisis anymore.
Drinks may be looking at the early chapter of the same story. The businesses that build or buy the data infrastructure now are likely to be the ones with the least disruption later.
Getting clarity early
"UK packaging policy has undergone changes that directly affect business models, supply chains and operations. For example, managing regional divergence is necessary. Wales will include glass in its Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) while other UK nations do not. The Wine and Spirits Trade Association (WSTA) helps its members keep pace with these changes to avoid financial penalties, protect their market access, and maintain operational continuity across the UK.
“Looking ahead, EPR policy will tie financial liabilities directly to packaging design through mechanisms like the Recyclability Assessment Methodology (RAM). Regulations will penalise non-recyclable materials and, from 2028, include new 'design factors'. Early understanding of these changes will help wine and spirit businesses determine future cost structures and commercial competitiveness."
— Freddie Joosten, Associate Director of Sustainability, WSTA
The direction of travel is clear. Packaging decisions made today, on materials, formats and suppliers, will shape cost structures for years to come. But there are lessons to be learned from other industries that have been through similar introductions of new policies, like electronics.
To help drinks businesses get ahead of this rather than react to it, Fero and BEVICA are hosting an evening presentation and panel on 1 October. Freddie Joosten will open the evening with a policy briefing covering EPR, DRS and PPWR, including what 2027 has in store, followed by a panel discussion with Claudio, Tamara Jordaki of Fero, and Francesca Hartley of Bevica on some solutions that are out there to help clients now and in future.
Sign-up here : Navigating EPR: What every drinks business needs to know
📍Fero HQ, London
📅 1 October
🕡 6:30pm to 9:30pm
Spaces are limited. Register today.
