Packaging Innovations 2025: UK’s “game-changing” EPR leaves plastic suppliers concerned

The UK’s incoming EPR dominated discussions at Packaging Innovations 2025 last week. The scheme administrator for packaging EPR (pEPR), Pack UK, announced itself at the event, describing the regulation as a “game-changer” for the country’s packaging circular economy. However, the British Plastics Federation (BPF) warned of the likely damaging impacts on plastic packaging businesses.

The pEPR scheme is designed to shift the responsibility and cost of packaging waste management from taxpayers and local authorities to businesses that use and supply the packaging. The first EPR payments will be required between October and December this year.

At the Pack UK booth, Margaret Bates, head of the UK pEPR scheme administrator, told Packaging Insights that pEPR has the potential to transform the packaging value chain and incentivize environmentally sustainable packaging design.

“Our pEPR is the proper, practical application of the ‘polluter pays’ principle,” she said. “It will encourage less packaging to go on the market, and encourage the packaging which does go on the market to be more recyclable, easier to refill or reuse, and in the future, to have other sustainability characteristics.”

“The scheme also incentivizes local authorities to be more efficient and effective about how they deal with that waste, and makes it easier for citizens to understand what they should do with their packaging at its end of life, how they should recycle or refill it, and what the consequences are [for improper disposal].”

“Pack UK will be running communication and behavior change campaigns so consumers understand what their role is, so it’s a real system-wide change for packaging and the UK in general.”Margaret Bates, head of the UK pEPR scheme administrator, believes pEPR could transform the packaging circular economy.

BPF raises concerns

At the BPF stand, Brian Lodge, director of packaging at the British Plastics Federation, suggested that pEPR could have a “very big detrimental effect” on plastic packaging suppliers.

“Plastic is the most expensive material under the base fees — £485 (US$612) per ton — which, when you compare to rival materials, is a lot more. Obviously, that’s going to be detrimental to plastic packaging sales and cause swapping into other materials that may have a less friendly environmental effect,” he said.

“Also, there are things like the RAM (Recycling Assessment Methodology), which, at the moment, is extremely simplistic and not favorable to a lot of types of packaging, like plastics packaging.”

“There’s a lot to be desired in the legislation, and BPF will continue to work to try and push Defra (Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs) into understanding the effects that they’re going to have on the industry.”

Recycled plastic problems

An ongoing issue for plastic packaging suppliers in the UK is the low availability and high costs (versus virgin material) of recycled plastic. The UK Plastic Packaging Tax, which came into force in April 2022, imposes levies on plastic packaging containing less than 30% recycled plastic.

Lodge told Packaging Insights at the trade show that the UK’s recycling performance on plastics has actually deteriorated further since the introduction of the tax.

“If anything, it is a lot worse now than it was,” he said. “We’ve lost 260,000 tons of recycling capacity in the UK in the last 18 months, so the availability of materials is decreasing for our members.”

“Bigger companies tend to ride the storm a little better because they can use long-term contracts and pay the cost of recycled material. It’s the SMEs who are really struggling with this, and the reality is that virgin polymer is so cheap and imported.”

“The UK recycling industry is struggling to find the feedstock to actually deliver the materials that the industry needs to incorporate.”

Meanwhile, Bates at Pack UK confirmed that funds generated through the pEPR scheme will be reinvested in the circular economy for packaging.

“It’s really important to us that the circular economy and packaging infrastructure at the end of life is what we support. The money is specified in the regulations to go to local authorities to support recycling and packaging collection and disposal,” she said.

“If local authorities are seen not to deliver an efficient and effective service, Pack UK has the opportunity to hold back some of that money — so they’ll really be driven to improve.”

Pack UK told us that learning from more established EPR schemes overseas was vital to the development of its pEPR initiative and that it will continue to enhance it through a “cycle of continuous improvement.” Brian Lodge, director of packaging at BPF, warns pEPR could force moves to less sustainable materials.

EPR spurs fiber innovation

Major fiber-based packaging suppliers marked the launch of the Alliance for Fibre-Based Packaging at Packaging Innovations 2025. The alliance’s founding members, which includes Sonoco, ProAmpac, Coveris, Colpac, Sabert, and Graphic Packaging, have teamed up to “facilitate representation in the detailed implementation of pEPR.”

Skye Oudemans, sustainability manager at Sonoco, told us at the show that both the UK pEPR and the EU PPWR are hugely significant initiatives that could create a system change for the industry.

“We’ve been very pleased to hear some of the Defra announcements at this event, and we want to make sure that there’s a clear voice for fiber-based packaging [through the alliance],” she said.

“In the longer term, we want to improve fiber-based packaging’s recycling acceptability, and ensure the representation of fiber-based packaging in future recycling policies.”

“We’re seeing the need for a lot of conversations, data sharing, and collaboration across the value chain, and that’s reflected in the development of this alliance. We need to be working with suppliers and sharing data in a way that’s never been done.”

Elopak also welcomed the UK pEPR and EU PPWR as bedrocks for future innovation and funding opportunities.

“[These regulations] provide some strong basis for innovation going forward, allowing producers to choose the best packages to help drive funding,” said Martin Shaw, market unit manager UK & Ireland at the liquid carton supplier.

We took a closer look at how the “fiberization” or “paperization” trend proliferated at this year’s Packaging Innovations.