Belu Water CEO: “It’s a little-known tax causing big headaches to business”

Natalie Campbell is the co-CEO of Belu Water. It is a social enterprise that provides mineral water, sourced from Wales, primarily to the hospitality industry, including restaurants and hotels.

Belu Water was founded in 2002 and had annual revenues of nearly £10m last year. It is a self-sustaining business and all of the company’s net profits go to WaterAid, which supports clean water projects around the world.

For the most part, Belu Water provides its water to businesses in glass bottles. These can be recycled and this approach avoids the use of plastic, which is derived from the fossil fuel oil. They also install filtration systems in some hospitality businesses, which allows for the reuse of bottles on site.

The company’s focus on glass puts it squarely in the sights of the government’s new Extended Producer Responsibility scheme, which has started to roll out this year. It is designed to make packaging producers pay the cost of household waste and recycling – and do so up front.

This new business levy charges companies based on the type of material they use for packaging and this is measured by weight, which is not good for glass, of course.

“We now have a new fee of about £800,000,” says Campbell. “EPR is a little-known tax that is about to hit most businesses in England and Wales.” The new levy will have a knock-on effect in the wider economy, she believes.

“We’re seeing food prices driving inflation,” she adds, “partly because of the packaging it’s coming in, but no one is connecting the dots.”

John Lewis recently reported that the introduction of EPR had added £29m to its costs in the first half of 2025/26. Businesses of all sizes have begun reporting their liabilities for all materials, including plastic, aluminium, wood, metal and cardboard.

Drinks companies are not being charged yet for aluminium and many plastic containers because they will likely be covered by a Deposit Return Scheme instead.

The ultimate goal is to promote a circular economy, but Campbell sees problems with the way the scheme is run. It is designed to support a circular economy, but the money councils receive from the levy will not be ring-fenced for recycling, says Campbell, so could be spent on anything, like fixing potholes or social care.

“We are actively lobbying the chancellor and saying they need to rethink the policy,” says Campbell. “We are saying that they need to rethink the tonnage [costs] and also that B2B businesses should not be included.”