Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) in 2026: Key dates, business impacts, and how to prepare

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is moving from a “compliance topic” to an executive-level priority. In 2026, global businesses will feel this shift most sharply across packaging and textiles, as well as batteries, electronics and other priority waste streams. More obligations are coming, reporting is becoming more granular, and regulators are becoming stricter.

If you are a business selling across borders, the question isn’t whether EPR will affect you, but how to stay compliant across multiple jurisdictions without losing control of cost, data and delivery.

This guide to EPR in 2026 outlines the key dates and milestones businesses should track, the likely operational impacts, the types of fines and penalties they could face, and how we can help global organisations manage EPR compliance at scale.

What is Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)?

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is a policy mechanism that shifts responsibility to the producers, making them accountable for the environmental impact of products and materials they place on the market.

In practice, EPR typically means impacted businesses have to:

• Register with regulators and/or Producer Responsibility Organisations (PROs).
• Report accurate “placed on market” data (often by material, weight, category and geography).
• Pay fees linked to collection, sorting, recycling and disposal.
• Meet evolving requirements on recyclability, reuse, labelling and traceability.

EPR systems vary by country and sometimes by state/province, and more are being introduced, which is exactly why 2026 is such a pivotal year of both planning and action for global businesses.

Why Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) in 2026 is a turning point

In 2025, global recycling infrastructure and policy shifts continued to show the impact and challenges of implementing EPR.

Analysis of waste recovery facilities, carried out across more than 20 countries, found that improved sorting and recycling performance led to a reduction in unrecovered recyclable material. It also showed plastic in residual lines dropped from an average of 3,000 tonnes lost in 2024 to 2,500 tonnes in 2025, reinforcing the importance of regulatory and operational changes to help improve recycling efficiency.

At the same time, PET bottle recovery increased significantly, showing how enhanced material management and policy incentives can drive real progress in circular systems.

While EPR isn’t a new policy, 2026 looks to mark a shift from framework-building to full operational enforcement.

Three changes define this turning point:

1. EPR is expanding across more materials and markets

Packaging remains central to the policy, but textiles are seen as another priority waste stream, alongside batteries and electronics. Businesses must now manage multiple EPR schemes at once, and usually at scale.

2. Data accuracy is now non-negotiable

Regulators will ask for auditable, product-level data. Inaccurate or incomplete reporting is one of the most common causes of enforcement action, such as fines.

3. Financial and commercial risk is rising

Eco-modulated fees (where costs vary based on criteria such as recyclability), stronger penalties and market access restrictions mean EPR directly impacts a business’s profitability and operational success.

Key stats: why regulators are accelerating EPR

EPR is not happening in isolation. Governments are reacting to material and waste trends, and businesses now carry the full responsibility and cost.

This is reinforced by recent stats highlighting:

• Global circularity is declining: the share of secondary materials consumed globally fell from 5) to 6.9% (2025). (Source: Circularity Gap Report, 2025)
• Textiles are now a priority waste stream: the EU reports 6 million tonnes of textile waste annually, with clothing and footwear accounting for 5.2 million tonnes (about 12 kg per person).

These trends underpin why EPR is accelerating, and why packaging and textiles are in the spotlight in 2026.

Textile EPR in 2026: what global brands need to prepare for

Textile EPR is set to become one of the largest regulatory shifts in 2026, covering apparel, footwear, and home textile brands. It’s tightly connected to traceability, durability, material choices and end-of-life systems.

Europe: textile EPR is now a defined direction of travel

The EU has moved forward with a revised Waste Framework Directive, where there are waste rules targeting textiles, including EPR requirements and clearer expectations on collection and treatment.

Key milestones businesses should know (and plan around):

• June 2027: EU Member States must transpose the revised rules into national law
• April 2028: EPR must be fully operational for textiles across the EU

For businesses, these milestones mean:

• national frameworks and producer requirements become clearer
• brands must start building internal data capability (SKUs, fibres, weights, product categories)
• and early decisions begin affecting future fee exposure and operational feasibility

Other EPR streams expanding through 2026

Even if your immediate focus is on packaging and textiles, EPR programmes rarely stay in one lane. Many global businesses will also need to track:

• Batteries: broader scope, higher targets, stronger transparency expectations
• WEEE (electronics): evolving reporting and producer definitions
• Plastics and single-use items: EPR-linked rules increasingly sit alongside recycled content mandates and DRS schemes

EPR is becoming a connected compliance ecosystem, which is why businesses will benefit from a centralised approach rather than isolated schemes.

If your business is struggling to know where to start, our teams of experts are on hand to help.

Enforcement and fines: what non-compliance can cost

As EPR moves from policy to operational enforcement, regulators are making it clear that non-compliance comes with consequences. More importantly, these penalties are no longer speculative; they are written into live frameworks across the UK, certain states in North America and some countries in the EU.

Below are real, current examples of what businesses will face when operating in markets where an EPR scheme is already active.

Business operating in the United Kingdom

Under the UK’s Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging regime, regulators can issue:

• Unlimited variable monetary penalties depending on producer size, intent and severity of offence.
• Fixed penalties for Category 4 offences for small business start at £700. Category 3 offences start at £1,000.
• Recovery of enforcement and investigation costs in addition to fines

In cases of persistent or deliberate non-compliance, further sanctions may apply under wider environmental enforcement powers.

Learn more about Packaging EPR

Business operating in North America

In the U.S., states with live or advanced EPR frameworks, such as California, mean that non-compliance can result in more than just fines for businesses.

Enforcement mechanisms include:

• Restrictions on selling products within the state until EPR obligations are met.
• Mandatory corrective actions for missed registrations or reporting failures.
• Escalating enforcement as additional states move from legislation to implementation.

For national and international brands, this means EPR compliance is increasingly a condition of market access, not just a regulatory formality.

Businesses operating in certain EU countries

Across the European Union, EPR is enforced at the national level with significant penalties. For example:

• Germany: non-compliance with packaging EPR can result in fines of up to €200,000 per violation, alongside sales bans for unregistered producers
• France: failure to register or report under EPR schemes can lead to administrative fines of up to €30,000, with additional penalties depending on product category
• Ongoing non-compliance can trigger daily fines until corrective action is taken

In the EU, EPR enforcement combines financial penalties with operational restrictions. Businesses that cannot evidence compliance risk will be excluded from key markets.

What these examples mean for EPR in 2026

Viewed together, these enforcement examples show how compliance in 2026 is changing the scope of risks in place for global businesses:

• Fines are larger, more visible and more consistently applied
• Poor data quality now carries direct financial consequences
• Market access can be restricted until compliance is demonstrated
• “Late fixes” are becoming harder as systems mature

This is why many global businesses are shifting from fragmented and regional EPR delivery to more centralised, data-driven compliance models, supported by partners who understand both regulation and operational reality.

EPR checklist: practical next steps

To prepare effectively for EPR, Reconomy has put together a quick, practical next steps checklist. These steps show that businesses should:

• Map where EPR applies across all markets and products
• Review data quality, ownership and internal systems
• Assess packaging and textile design against recyclability and durability criteria
• Engage suppliers to improve transparency and traceability
• Consider a centralised approach to global EPR compliance

How Reconomy helps businesses achieve international EPR compliance

Reconomy is a tech-enabled, people-powered circular economy specialist supporting global businesses through the complexity of EPR.

We help organisations:

• Map EPR obligations across regions and material streams
• Build accurate, auditable data and reporting systems
• Coordinate registrations and submissions across multiple PROs
• Reduce EPR costs through smarter design and strategic insight

If your business needs help meeting EPR obligations across multiple regions, please contact our experts today to see how we can help.