UK PRN procurement

Secure competitive PRNs with confidence. Benefit from audited recycling evidence, exclusive reprocessor relationships, deep market insights and the option to active-buy.

What are PRNs?

A PRN is an electronic certificate confirming that one tonne of post-consumer packaging material has been recycled in the UK, issued only by accredited UK reprocessors. A PERN (Packaging waste Export Recovery Note) meanwhile, provides proof that packaging material has been exported for recycling by accredited UK exporters.

Material specific PRNs and PERNs are issued per packaging material, including glass, plastic, aluminium, steel, paper/board and wood.

When large producers report packaging placed on the UK market under EPR, the regulator calculates a material specific PRN obligation which is met by purchasing the appropriate number of PRNs or PERNs.

As your compliance scheme, we handle this obligation for you and provide competitive, audited PRNs with several buying options.

PRN procurement options to suit you

We have the second-largest PRN obligation of all compliance schemes, and provide three PRN procurement options to suit your business:

We purchase PRNs for you as part of our overall scheme obligation
We decide when to buy from the market, based on our expert analysis and forecasting
Benefit from competitive pricing due to our scheme buying power and reprocessor relationships
Relied on by 99% of our compliance customers

We consult with you to approve PRN buying decisions
We recommend procurement opportunities and exclusive reprocessor relationships
You decide the timing, spend and source of your PRNs
Perfect if you want 100% control of your PRN investments

For producers who are not registered with our compliance scheme
Leave the buying decisions to us or choose active-buy PRNs
We transfer the PRNs to you or your allocated compliance scheme
Benefit from our competitive PRN procurement - even if you’re under contract with another compliance scheme or directly registered

Ecosurety assured

For over 20 years we’ve fostered trusted relationships with UK reprocessors, establishing exclusive contracts and close collaborations. Our customers benefit with competitive pricing, reduced volatility and reliable recycling evidence supply.

We favour suppliers on a Net Zero pathway and we carefully audit their ESG credentials and recycling evidence to ensure it is genuine, ethical and their operations are as low-impact as possible.

Our dedicated procurement team also use real‑time insights, detailed market analysis and predictive forecasting to inform every buying decision - keeping costs as competitive as possible.

We also work hard to keep our customers fully informed, with regular 1-2-1 commercial updates, quarterly PRN market reports and exclusive PRN market insights available online, updated daily.

Our PRN market insights tool helps you understand how PRN market performance impacts your compliance costs and our PRN procurement strategy.

Exclusive to Ecosurety customers, the data reflects our industry insight, recycler relationships and expert analysis, to provide indicative market averages.

Updated daily and available online, it’s there whenever you need a PRN market update.