Template letter to your MP

 

Dear [MP Name],

I am writing as a constituent and a business operating in [constituency/area], where we employ [X] people in [brief description – e.g. packaging manufacturing / distribution / foodservice supply].

I wanted to raise a concern about the current design of the UK’s Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (pEPR) scheme and its potential impact on businesses like ours.

We fully support the environmental objectives of EPR. However, the way the system is currently operating appears to be creating unintended consequences.

In particular, there is no reliable way to verify that all businesses who should be contributing are visible within the system. This creates a situation where compliant companies are carrying a growing share of the cost burden, while others may operate below thresholds or outside effective visibility.

The practical impact for businesses like ours is:

  • Increasing cost pressure compared to competitors, including suppliers operating through import-led or cross-border supply models where compliance is less visible.
  • Difficulty competing with lower-cost suppliers.
  • Reduced ability to invest and grow locally.

This is not about wrongdoing by individual firms, it's about whether the system design creates uneven outcomes.

Given the importance of employers in your constituency, I would welcome your support in raising the following questions with Defra and the Environment Agency:

  • How is the full producer population being verified?
  • What steps are being taken to ensure a level playing field?
  • How are newly formed businesses and imports being monitored?
  • Whether the current thresholds are operating as intended.

Please follow this link to access a full MP briefing document providing further detail about why this issue is so important.

Thank you for your time and for representing local businesses.

Kind regards,

[Your name and job title]
[Your company name]
[Your company address and postcode – if within the MPs constituency, or your own address and postcode if not]

Suggested subject lines

  • “Local employer concern: Packaging EPR impact in [CONSTITUENCY]”
  • “Jobs and competitiveness risk from Packaging EPR system design”
  • “Request for support: fair implementation of Packaging EPR”
  • “Impact of EPR on [X] jobs in your constituency”

Optional (but powerful)

Add a sentence at the end of the email requesting a short meeting or call with your MP's office.
 
Below is a link to a list of priority MPs with large packaging-related businesses in their constituencies.

However, even if your MPs name doesn't appear on this list, we urge you to still make contact with them. The more MPs are aware of the wider implications, the better the chance of adjustments being made to the system to mitigate these.