What has the HTA done for its members?

We have been working hard since this policy was first announced to understand, and crucially to translate this into something applicable to horticulture. We have developed an information summary guide, a reporting guide, and a self-assessment tool with our partners Ecoveritas to help businesses to understand how they will be affected by the legislation. We have also represented our members in our responses to government consultation and subsequent workshops and forums on this topic.

We have run webinars and provided updates where we can and have been working hard to understand unforeseen complications to ensure these are clarified by Defra and or the Environment Agency. This includes issues such as the reserve system for retailers to preorder plants from a grower, where there is no contract in place, and whether a distribution label counts as branded packaging or not

Now, we are working with Ecoveritas to develop and share a solution for HTA businesses. The software tool is aimed at SMEs and smaller businesses who do not have the time and resource to focus on compliance with complicated legislation. The tool will take out the pain of packaging data, and Ecoveritas are aiming to launch this in November 2023.

Find out more

Delays explained

There have been several delays reported which can suggest that EPR as a whole process is delayed, but this is not the case. We urge all our members to understand if they are obligated, and to take steps to comply.

Delay	Announced	Delayed until	Affected Businesses	What this means
DRS in Scotland	June 2023	October 2025	Scottish retailers	Retailers have more time to prepare for the implementation of DRS in Scotland. Retailers do not need to record data unless they have their own brand of drinks.
EPR Fees delayed	July 2023	From October 2024 to October 2025	All obligated businesses over the top threshold	EPR disposal fees for household packaging will not apply until October 2025. Those fees will be based on data submitted for the year 2024. However you are still required to submit 2023 data as this will inform how the fees are calculated.
EPR grace period for data submissions	September 2023	31^st May 2024	All obligated businesses	Businesses will not face legal enforcements for EPR reporting of 2023 data until 31^st May 2024. However you will still need to report all 2023 data by this time if you are obligated, or face penalty.