# Plastic Packaging Tax: 10 tonnes, 30% recycled and £228.82 a tonne, worked in mailer bags for an online shop > Plastic Packaging Tax starts at 10 tonnes made or imported in 12 months, below 30% recycled, at £228.82 a tonne. In 25g mailers that is 400,000 bags. - Page to cite: https://aeolookup.com/online-shops/plastic-packaging-tax-10-tonnes-30-percent-recycled-228-82-per-tonne-online-shop-worked/ - Publisher: AEO Lookup (https://aeolookup.com/) - Section: Online shops, Fees, payments and postage - Published 11 October 2026 - Key fact: 10 tonnes is 10,000,000 g. At 25 g a mailer that is 400,000 mailers; at 18 g it is 555,556. A shop importing 40,000 mailers of 25 g imports 1 tonne, one tenth of the threshold. If registered, 1 tonne at £228.82 would be £228.82, or 0.57p a mailer. 12,000 mailers of 18 g is 0.216 tonnes. - Sources: GOV.UK, "Check if you need to register for Plastic Packaging Tax" (register if you manufactured or imported 10 tonnes or more of finished plastic packaging components in the last 12 months, or expect to in the next 30 days; tax applies to packaging with less than 30% recycled plastic; £228.82 a tonne from 1 April 2026, from £223.69). Read 11 October 2026. A small online shop buys 40,000 branded polythene mailers a year from a supplier in China. The owner has heard of a "plastic tax" from a trade newsletter and is not sure whether it applies. It is a good question, and the answer sits in a threshold that is quoted in tonnes, a unit a small shop does not think in. This guide converts it. ## The rule on GOV.UK You may need to register if you manufactured or imported **10 tonnes or more** of finished plastic packaging components in the last 12 months, or expect to do so in the next **30 days**. The tax applies to packaging that contains **less than 30% recycled plastic**. The rate from 1 April 2026 is **£228.82 per tonne**, up from £223.69 in 2025. ## Tonnes in bags One tonne is 1,000,000 g. The shop's mailer weight is on the supplier's spec sheet. | Mailer weight | Mailers in 1 tonne | Mailers in 10 tonnes | Tax per mailer at £228.82 a tonne | |---|---|---|---| | 10 g | 100,000 | 1,000,000 | 0.23p | | 18 g | 55,556 | 555,556 | 0.41p | | 25 g | 40,000 | 400,000 | 0.57p | | 40 g | 25,000 | 250,000 | 0.92p | The table is our own arithmetic. The shop in the example imports 40,000 mailers of 25 g, which is exactly one tonne a year, a tenth of the threshold. Add 12,000 mailers of 18 g for a second product line (0.216 tonnes) and the total is 1.216 tonnes. If the shop did cross the line and the mailers were under 30% recycled, one tonne would carry £228.82 of tax. ## Why it still matters at 1 tonne No registration is needed at one tonne, but the shop is already a tenth of the way to the line. A shop that doubles its volume every year reaches it in a little over three doublings, so the weight of each mailer, and the recycled content on the supplier's spec, are worth writing down now. ## Reading the supplier's spec sheet Ask the supplier for two numbers per item: the weight of one unit in grams, and the share of recycled plastic in it. Multiply the first by your annual order to get tonnes, and keep the second on file. A supplier that cannot give a recycled-content figure is one whose packaging you should assume is below 30% until shown otherwise. ## The traps for a small shop - **Counting only mailers.** Cartons, void-fill and bottles are plastic packaging components too if they are plastic. GOV.UK's page refers to a separate definition, which I did not read. - **Which tonnes count.** The page speaks of packaging components manufactured or imported, so a shop that buys from a UK wholesaler is not the importer. I did not read how packaging that arrives already filled with goods is treated, so check the definition if your suppliers send boxed stock. - **The forward test.** It is also a 30-day look ahead. A shop that plans a single big import of 10 tonnes must register before it lands. - **The recycled-content proof.** Below 30% is taxed; a supplier's recycled-content declaration has to be kept. This sits next to the producer-responsibility duty on packaging, which has its own thresholds: see the [packaging EPR guide](https://aeolookup.com/online-shops/packaging-epr-small-online-shop-25-tonnes-1-million-turnover-do-i-report/). The fee side of a business that ships a lot is in the [Etsy and Shopify fee calculator](https://aeolookup.com/online-shops/etsy-shopify-fee-calculator-uk/). Overlyft ![](https://aeolookup.com/img/d/ours-badge.png) builds AI staff who join your shop team and total every packaging order by weight against the 10-tonne line over a rolling 12 months, so you see how near you are before the 30-day look-ahead matters. This is general information, not tax advice. Check GOV.UK before you rely on it. --- ![](https://aeolookup.com/img/d/owner-line.png) Overlyft: https://overlyft.com/ General information for UK small firms, not legal, tax or financial advice.