Sustainable Packaging & EPR Compliance worked example

Packaging Recovery Rate at 86% recovery target achieved: a worked example

Push recovery target achieved up to 86% and the picture changes. This example computes every intermediate figure at that operating point. A compliance lead costing the recovery obligation tied to a legislated recycling rate for a product line.

The inputs for this scenario

  • Packaging Tonnage Placed: 820 tonnes/yr (unchanged)
  • Recovery Cost per Tonne: 145 $/tonne (unchanged)
  • Recovery Target Achieved: 86 % (raised for this scenario; the documented default is 75)
  • Reporting & Audit Fee: 6,000 $ (unchanged)

Working through the calculation

  • Applying the documented formula (Recovery cost = tonnage placed x recovery cost per tonne x recovery target achieved + reporting fee) to the inputs above produces each figure below.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 108,254 $ for total packaging recovery rate cost, the number this scenario is built around.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 132 $ / piece for packaging recovery rate cost per unit.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 102,254 $ for variable packaging recovery rate cost.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 6,000 $ for fixed packaging recovery rate adder.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where recovery target achieved sits at 75% and the headline result is 95,175 $, this scenario comes in 13.74% above the baseline at 108,254 $.
  • It multiplies tonnage placed by the recovery cost per tonne and the target-achieved percentage, adds the fixed reporting fee, and divides by tonnage for a per-tonne cost. The value of this scenario is the size of the gap it exposes: that gap, priced out over a year, is the budget you can justify spending to close it.

Results at a glance

  • Total packaging recovery rate cost: 108,254 $ (headline result)
  • Packaging recovery rate cost per unit: 132 $ / piece
  • Variable packaging recovery rate cost: 102,254 $
  • Fixed packaging recovery rate adder: 6,000 $

Run it with your numbers

  • Every input above is editable in the live Packaging Recovery Rate calculator, which recalculates instantly and can be shared with the inputs intact.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.