Sustainable Packaging & EPR Compliance worked example

Packaging Take-Back Cost at 71% return capture rate: a worked example

Push return capture rate up to 71% and the picture changes. This example computes every intermediate figure at that operating point. A packaging engineer sizing the financial exposure of a mandatory take-back program before committing to a new pack format.

The inputs for this scenario

  • Units Sold Into Market: 250,000 units/yr (unchanged)
  • Collection & Reprocessing Fee: 0.18 $/unit (unchanged)
  • Return Capture Rate: 71 % (raised for this scenario; the documented default is 62)
  • Scheme Enrollment Fee: 4,500 $ (unchanged)

Working through the calculation

  • Applying the documented formula (Take-back cost = units sold x fee per unit x return capture rate + scheme enrollment fee) to the inputs above produces each figure below.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 36,450 $ for total packaging take-back cost, the number this scenario is built around.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 0.15 $ / piece for packaging take-back cost per unit.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 31,950 $ for variable packaging take-back cost.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 4,500 $ for fixed packaging take-back cost adder.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where return capture rate sits at 62% and the headline result is 32,400 $, this scenario comes in 12.5% above the baseline at 36,450 $.
  • It multiplies units sold by the per-unit collection fee and the return capture rate, adds the fixed scheme enrollment fee, and divides the total by units to give a per-unit 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 take-back cost: 36,450 $ (headline result)
  • Packaging take-back cost per unit: 0.15 $ / piece
  • Variable packaging take-back cost: 31,950 $
  • Fixed packaging take-back cost adder: 4,500 $

Run it with your numbers

  • Every input above is editable in the live Packaging Take-Back Cost calculator, which recalculates instantly and can be shared with the inputs intact.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.