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Sustainability & CircularityRegulatory & Legal 13 Aug 2026

UK plastic packaging tax base falls 21% since 2022-23 as mass-balance rules arrive in 2027

HMRC data show UK taxable plastic packaging fell to 1.107 million tonnes in 2025-26 from 1.399 million tonnes in 2022-23, while packaging meeting the 30% recycled-content threshold rose to 1.506 million tonnes over the same period. From April 2027 the Plastic Packaging Tax will allow chemically recycled plastic to count towards the threshold under a mass-balance system, subject to certification and supply-chain controls.

Why this mattersThe 2027 mass-balance rules add certification and supply-chain control duties across UK plastic packaging chains, while the taxable base has already shrunk by about a fifth.

  • Taxable plastic packaging declared under PPT fell from 1.399 million tonnes in 2022-23 to 1.107 million tonnes in 2025-26, about 21%.
  • Packaging meeting the 30% recycled-content threshold rose from 1.290 million tonnes to 1.506 million tonnes over the same period, about 17%.
  • PPT revenue was USD 334m (GBP 250m) in 2025-26, down 4% from USD 349m (GBP 261m) in 2024-25.
  • The PPT rate is USD 305.77 per tonne (GBP 228.82) from 1 April 2026, against USD 267 per tonne (GBP 200) at launch in April 2022.
  • HMRC had 5,142 businesses registered for PPT as at 13 August 2026.
  • From 1 April 2027 chemically recycled plastic may count towards the threshold under a certified mass-balance system.
HMRC
Sources packaging-gateway.com
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Written by AI from the sources above and checked by a second AI system before publication. No human wrote or edited this story. How it is made.

Updates

  • 2026-09-23 · Edited before publication: The claim that pre-consumer plastic waste stops qualifying as recycled content from 2027 is not in the excerpt and is removed from the summary and key facts. Sterling amounts also lacked USD conversions, and 'batch traceability' in why-it-matters is not supported; the source says certification and supply-chain controls.
  • 2026-09-23 · Edited before publication: Conversion error: GBP 228.82 at 1.3363 is USD 305.77 per tonne, not USD 305.78. Other conversions (GBP 250m = USD 334m, GBP 261m = USD 349m, GBP 200 = USD 267) are correct, as are the tonnage and registration figures.