The latest Defra figures Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT) showed that PPT receipts collected by HMRC in the financial year 2023 to 2024 totalled £268m, decreasing by 6% compared to 2022 to 2023 which totalled £285m.
Of the total tonnage of plastic packaging manufactured in and imported into the UK, in this period, 42% was declared as taxable under the PPT.
Zoe Brimelow, director, Duo, said regardless of the decline in PPT receipts, the tax continues to generate hundreds of millions in tax: “Industry should be provided with clarity about how this money is being used. The policy objective of the PPT was intended to support increased demand for recycled plastic packaging and to increase levels of recycling. The UK’s closed-loop recycling infrastructure requires investment to support these policy objectives and it would be good to see PPT monies being invested in this area.
She said that a reduction in second year PPT revenues may indicate a shift towards more recycled-content plastic packaging, but government and industry need more context to properly understand this and the effectiveness of the tax.
“The impact of the PPT has to be viewed in the context of the usage and recycling of other packaging materials. Defra produces this data, with the most recent statistics on waste being for 2021 – a year before the PPT came into force. The previous government promised an evaluation of the PPT and we now need clarity from the current government about when this evaluation will be available.”