What is RAM?
RAM stands for the Recyclability Assessment Methodology — the government's standard method for judging how recyclable a piece of packaging is in real UK conditions. It underpins Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR): from the 2026/27 compliance year, the fees producers pay are adjusted according to each item's RAM rating.
It's a self-assessment: producers assess their own packaging against the published methodology and hold evidence to support the result. There's no single official certificate — which is why an indicative check is a useful planning tool, and a documented assessment is what you rely on for reporting.
What RAM covers — and what it doesn't
RAM applies to household packaging: primary and shipment packaging that's likely to end up in household or public bins. Importantly, "household" is about where the packaging ends up, not who buys it — so e-commerce packaging delivered to consumers (mailers, boxes, void fill, book wraps) is in scope, because it ends up in home recycling.
It does not apply to:
- Industrial or transit packaging destined for commercial or industrial waste streams (for example, packaging used purely to move goods between businesses on pallets).
- Reusable packaging, which is reported but not RAM-rated in the same way.
- Exported packaging, which doesn't enter UK waste streams.
- Deposit-return drinks containers (PET, aluminium, steel) covered by a DRS.
So if you ship orders to customers, RAM and its fees apply to that packaging. If your packaging only moves goods business-to-business into commercial waste, it's outside RAM's scope. RAM assessment is also currently a legal requirement for large producers only — those with turnover above £2 million placing more than 50 tonnes of packaging on the market a year — though the design principles benefit everyone.
How the red, amber, green ratings work
RAM sorts each packaging component into one of three bands:
- Green — widely recyclable in UK household collections. Attracts the lower, discounted end of the modulated fees.
- Amber — recyclable but with limitations. Pays the standard base fee, with no discount.
- Red — hard to recycle. Pays the base fee plus a rising multiplier.
The red multiplier increases over time: 1.2× the base fee in 2026/27, 1.6× in 2027/28, and 2.0× in 2028/29. So a red rating gets more expensive each year, which is why acting early matters.
A note on versions: PackUK published RAM 2027 on 1 July 2026. RAM 2027 applies to packaging supplied in the 2027 reporting year (1 January to 31 December 2027); the earlier RAM version 1.1 still applies to 2025 and 2026 reporting. RAM 2027 builds on version 1.1 with refinements, so it's worth familiarising yourself with it ahead of the 2027 year. We try to keep this page and our checker aligned to the current methodology.
What pushes packaging toward red — or green
A few practical rules come out of the methodology:
- Single materials rate better. Packaging made of one material is easy to recycle. Multi-material items that can't be separated by hand are assessed together as a composite — usually the worse outcome.
- Added features can cost you. Plastic tape, plastic windows, certain labels and coatings can drag an otherwise-recyclable pack down a band.
- Kerbside collection matters. Materials widely collected at household kerbside (paper, card) rate well; materials most collections don't take (many flexible plastics) rate poorly.
- Detectability matters for plastics. Black plastic can't be sorted by standard equipment, so it rates badly whatever the polymer.
How your rating affects your fees
Your RAM rating doesn't set your fee on its own — it sets the modulation applied to your base fee. The base fee depends on the material (paper and card are far cheaper per tonne than plastic or composite) and the weight you place on the market. So the lowest total fee comes from combining three things: a low-fee material, low weight, and a green rating.
That's why switching a bonded bubble mailer (composite, often red) to a single-material paper mailer (paper, green) saves twice over — cheaper material category and a better rating — with the gap widening each year as the red multiplier climbs.
Check your packaging's RAM rating
You don't have to guess how your packaging rates. Our free RAM rating checker gives an indicative red, amber or green result — pick your material and features and see how it's likely to rate, plus what to change to improve it.
How to improve a poor rating
If your packaging rates amber or red, the fixes are usually about simplifying to one material and removing problem features. We cover the practical steps in how to improve your RAM rating, and our EPR-friendly packaging range is built around materials that rate well.
Explore the full EPR packaging range
Every product below is chosen to help lower your EPR fees — by switching to a lower-fee material category, cutting weight, or keeping packaging a single recyclable stream. Use the links below to go straight to a product family:
- Mono-material mailing bags — paper mailers that replace two-material bubble-lined bags, assessed as a single paper component.
- Paper protective packaging & void fill — paper void fill, bubble wrap and honeycomb that replace plastic, recycled in one paper stream.
- Recyclable cardboard boxes — the lowest-fee mainstream material, with SMART fluting to cut weight without losing strength.
- Paper tape & closures — gummed paper tape that seals boxes and recycles with them as one fibre stream.
- Lightweight stretch film — thinner, stronger film that puts less plastic by weight on every pallet.
Not sure where the biggest saving is? Send us your current packaging and we'll model it.