WRAP launches UK Packaging Pact to boost infrastructure, investment, and data-driven progress

The UK Packaging Pact succeeds The UK Plastics Pact, building on seven years of collaboration and achievements. Its primary goal is to dismantle persistent system barriers, facilitate investment, and promote the large-scale adoption of circular packaging.

Source: WRAP

While policy reforms such as Extended Producer Responsibility, Simpler Recycling, and the European Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation will be transformative, legislation alone cannot establish a fully functional circular packaging system. The Pact empowers businesses to advance collectively and swiftly, aligning design, infrastructure, and data to enhance impact across the entire value chain.

Mission

To expedite the transition to a circular packaging system by advocating for material optimization and traceability, minimizing reliance on virgin resources, expanding reuse models, and prolonging material lifecycles.

Approach

A decade-long initiative aimed at reshaping the UK’s relationship with packaging, driven by clear, impact-focused goals assessed through defined KPIs.

UK Packaging Pact Overview

Four ambitious and interconnected goals designed to foster industry-wide transformation. While members may prioritize goals that align with their specific sectors, each goal contributes shared value, generating momentum and amplifying impact across the ecosystem. Given the dynamic and complex policy environment, the Pact has established interim KPIs that may evolve to ensure alignment with regulatory developments and industry needs.

Goal 1: Optimize Packaging

Goal 1 aims to enhance packaging by minimizing its overall environmental impact. This will be achieved by eliminating problematic and unnecessary materials, maximizing recycled content usage, ensuring packaging is recyclable and designed for circularity, and reducing dependence on virgin and non-renewable resources. Collectively, these efforts will decrease business costs, eliminate items and designs that hinder recycling or cause harm, and support a transition towards more sustainable systems.

Proposed Initial KPIs:

• Greenhouse gas emissions (WRAP to develop conversion for aggregated data)
• Problematic/unnecessary packaging (similar to the UK Plastics Pact)
• Recycled content (where measurable)
• Proportion of recyclable packaging (aligned with EPR)
• Single-use packaging (aligned with EPR)

Goal 2: Scale Reuse & Refill

Building on the solid groundwork established by the Pact and WRAP’s expertise in global reuse, Goal 2 will leverage pre-competitive collaboration to unlock the potential of reuse and refill models. This involves working with businesses and innovators to accelerate practical solutions that promote standardization and interoperability, optimize design for citizen accessibility and ease, and develop the necessary infrastructure for thriving reuse systems.

Proposed Initial KPIs:

• Share of sales volume delivered in reusable packaging
• Ratio of single-use to reusable packaging (aligned with PPWR definitions)

Goal 3: Support Circular Infrastructure Investment

Goal 3 will create a pre-competitive forum and robust evidence base for collaboration among businesses, investors, and government to identify actions and leadership necessary to facilitate and accelerate investment flow in the UK. This includes ensuring that materials collected for recycling are indeed recycled while fostering a strong and resilient circular resource management sector.

Proposed Initial KPIs:

• Increased recycling rates in line with pEPR targets at a minimum
• Increased proportion/tonnage of materials processed in the UK

Goal 4: Harmonize Data

Goal 4 will build on existing tools and collaborate with industry and government to simplify reporting, align terminology, and implement solutions that reduce administrative burdens and costs. This will make compliance easier, enable tracking of progress, shape future regulations, and enhance impact through improved traceability.

Proposed Initial KPIs:

• Initially, there will be no quantifiable KPIs for Goal 4; progress will be monitored against priorities agreed upon with the membership. Future KPIs may be considered based on improved traceability as agreed with members.