Compliance Without Transformation: A Systematic Review of Means‐Ends Decoupling in EPR and Implications for UK Packaging Reform

Extended producer responsibility (EPR) has been widely adopted across European circular economy governance yet three decades of implementation reveal a persistent and underexplained gap between formal compliance and upstream environmental outcomes. This systematic review of 45 studies spanning packaging and Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment schemes asks why producers comply with EPR obligations without undertaking substantive ecodesign change. Applying means‐ends decoupling theory to mandatory regulatory contexts, the review identifies the following three interacting mechanism layers: behavioural mechanisms including cost pass‐through, satisficing and status quo bias; organisational mechanisms including principal‐agent fragmentation and collective cost averaging; and structural opacity conditions that prevent effective monitoring and correction. Together these mechanisms produce compliance without transformation as a stable organisational equilibrium rather than an isolated implementation failure. The review extends decoupling theory beyond voluntary sustainability standards into binding regulatory regimes and generates practical implications for UK packaging EPR, showing that fee modulation alone is insufficient and must be reinforced by complementary measures targeting transparency, organisational capability and supply chain incentives.