PPT revenue accrued was down from £261 million in 2024-25.
HMRC said the figures show a “gradual decline” in PPT revenue since the tax was introduced in April 2022.
The amount of plastic packaging declared as taxable also fell, from 1.194 million tonnes in 2024-25 to 1.107 million tonnes in 2025-26.
This means taxable plastic packaging accounted for 37% of the total 2.97 million tonnes of plastic packaging manufactured in and imported into the UK during the year. The proportion has fallen from 41% in 2022-23, when PPT was introduced.
Total plastic packaging declarations have also declined, falling by approximately 13% between 2022-23 and 2025-26, from 3.433m tonnes to 2.970m tonnes.
HMRC said the level of taxable plastic packaging has shown a downward trend since the introduction of the tax, while relieved and exempt packaging has remained “relatively stable overall”.
The tax rate increased from £217.85 per tonne in 2024-25 to £223.69 per tonne in 2025-26.
‘Stagnating’ progress
Packaging containing at least 30% recycled plastic made up the largest proportion of relieved and exempt packaging.
In 2025-26, 1.506m tonnes of packaging was declared as containing 30% or more recycled plastic, equivalent to 51% of the packaging that was not taxable.
This was down from 1.569m tonnes in 2024-25, but remained above the 1.29m tonnes recorded in 2022-23.
Reconomy’s Head of External Affairs, David Gudgeon, said the latest figures showed that progress on increasing recycled content in plastic packaging appeared to be “stagnating”.
He commented: “With the proportion barely changing from 38% to 37% year-on-year, there is clearly much further to go to reduce reliance on virgin material.
“With prices for virgin plastic remaining persistently low, these figures aren’t surprising as it is often far cheaper to use new material than recycled content.”
UK recycled plastics sector
The UK’s plastic recycling industry continues to operate in uncertain conditions, with the recent announcement that flexible plastics collections will be delayed until 2030 causing some concern about investment into the sector.
Research commissioned by Viridor in June 2026 estimated that the UK could unlock £5.9 billion of investment in plastics recycling infrastructure by 2060 if the right investment framework is established.
However, the report warned that the sector was approaching a “critical juncture”, with domestic processing capacity struggling to keep pace with expected increases in collections.
It estimated that the UK has lost around 22% of its plastics recycling capacity over the past two years.
The report warned that, without intervention, the UK could end up collecting more plastic than it can process domestically, increasing reliance on export markets and potentially increasing waste management and carbon costs for councils.
Gudgeon added: “The widely documented structural challenges facing the sector, including competition from cheaper virgin plastics and soaring labour and energy costs, have forced many recycling plants to shut.
“We would urge the Government to create the conditions needed to unlock greater investment in domestic recycling infrastructure.
“In particular, it should consider following the EU’s lead by introducing mandatory minimum recycled-content requirements for plastic packaging.”
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