pEPR Update: Carrier Bag (England) Reporting
On 16 December 2025, the EA updated the previous Regulatory Position Statement (RPS) 330* in England to include the collection and reporting of plastic and paper bags supplied in England during 2025.
While this announcement doesn’t change your legal obligation to gather and report the relevant data, the regulators will not be taking enforcement action against those who comply with the descriptions set out in the RPS.
Data gathering and reporting update
The RPS released earlier this year set out that producers don’t have to collect and report on their 2025 nation of sale or self-managed organisational waste data.
The RPS has, today, been updated to include the collection and reporting of data related to plastic and paper bags supplied in England in 2025 too, which was originally due to be submitted by April 2026.
Next steps
As this is a temporary RPS, producers are expected to start gathering this data from 1 January 2026 for the following reporting deadlines:
- Self-managed organisational waste will need to be reported by large producers in line with their H1 2026 data submissions by 1 October 2026.
- Nation of sale data, and plastic and paper bags supplied in England, will need to be reported by both large and small producers in line with their H2 2026, or annual 2026 data submissions, by 1 April 2027.
Please note that while this is in the regulations as an annual submission, Beyondly will be updating our systems for large producers to report this data to us bi-annually, in line with your pEPR packaging data. This will help our members to gather the correct data for each 6-month period rather than having two separate reporting periods.
Carrier bag data
Producers will need to gather the number of plastic or paper bags supplied in England in the following categories:
- Single use carrier bags as outlined in Schedule 2 of The Single Use Carrier Bags Charges (England) Order 2015,
- Bags made wholly or partly of plastic which
- are supplied for use as packaging for food items including bread, fruit, or vegetables; and
- are not carrier bags as per the first point,
- Paper bags, of any thickness, which have handles, and which are not sealed.
We are still waiting to hear from the EA or Defra Digital on the specifics of the reporting requirements for both nation of sale, and plastic and paper bag reporting, and will update our members in due course.
Environmental policy is constantly evolving, with global efforts driving us toward a more sustainable circular economy. At Beyondly, we keep our members informed of key regulatory changes and emerging developments. By sharing timely insights, we empower you to make confident, informed decisions that align with the shifting environmental landscape.
Link to the Regulatory Position Statements (or Regulatory Statement in Wales) for all the UK nations: Packaging data: check reporting periods and submission deadlines - GOV.UK
*Currently, only the EA have updated their statement. We are speaking to the regulators to find out what this means for companies in the other UK nations who supply carrier bags in England.
