01
Your return, built and checked
Your packaging, turned into Defra’s Report Packaging Data lines. Company details, contacts and brands are checked, and anything missing is flagged before you export.
Who it is for
UK drinks brands with over £1 million turnover that place over 25 tonnes of packaging on the UK market a year. Small producers report once a year. Large producers, over £2 million and 50 tonnes, report twice a year, pay disposal fees and meet recycling targets with recovery notes.
The EPR page
Your producer size, your packaging, your fees.
This is the app’s own EPR page. Pick a card to open its part: your packaging by material, your fee estimate, what a return still needs from you, and your reporting dates.
What you walk away with
Things you can hold, not promises.
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What changed since last time
Each return set against your last one, line by line, with the change in fees.
03
Recyclability ratings
A red, amber or green rating for each item with PackUK’s method, RAM v1.1 for 2025 and 2026 packaging and RAM 2027 after. An item without answers is rated red, as PackUK charges it.
04
Fees, and what a change would save
Your fee estimate by material, labelled final, illustrative or estimated. Try a lighter bottle or a can instead of glass and see the fees, recycling notes and carbon it would change.
How it works
Three steps.
- 1
Set up once
A short setup takes your organisation and registration details. Your packaging comes from the products already in alkatera.
- 2
Rate and check
Answer the recyclability questions for each item. alkatera shows what a return still needs from you.
- 3
Export and upload
Download the file and upload it to Defra’s RPD service. Mark it as submitted, and the audit trail keeps the record.
Price
£99
a month, in every plan
Included in every plan. Plans start at £99 a month (Seed, founding partner rate, excluding VAT), with a 30-day free trial. See pricing.
Questions people ask.
Does alkatera file my EPR return for me?
No. alkatera builds your Report Packaging Data file in Defra’s format and checks it before you export it. You download the file and upload it to Defra’s RPD service yourself. Then you mark it as submitted in alkatera, and the audit trail records the date and who did it.
Do I have to report my packaging under EPR?
You do if your business turns over more than £1 million and places more than 25 tonnes of packaging on the UK market a year. Over £2 million and 50 tonnes, you are a large producer: you report twice a year, pay disposal fees and meet recycling targets with recovery notes. Between the two, you are a small producer and report once a year, with no fees.
What happens to cans and plastic bottles when the deposit return scheme starts?
Cans, PET bottles and steel drinks containers leave packaging EPR when the deposit return scheme starts on 1 October 2027. Glass bottles stay in EPR and pay fees. alkatera applies these rules for you, so there is nothing to set.
Are the fee figures final?
The 2025/26 figures use PackUK’s final base fees. The 2026/27 figures use PackUK’s illustrative rates from December 2025, and later years carry the latest rates forward. alkatera labels every year as final, illustrative or estimated, so treat them as estimates, not bills.
What is a RAM recyclability rating?
RAM is PackUK’s recyclability assessment method. It rates each piece of household packaging red, amber or green, and from 2026/27 a red rating costs more in fees than a green one. You answer a short set of questions about each item and alkatera works out the rating. An item without answers is rated red, as PackUK charges it.