The UK Plastics Pact is the world’s first programme to tackle the issue of plastic waste through collaboration across the entire supply chain. The UK itself is acting as a testbed for a planned network of country-specific, global Plastics Pacts.

The UK Plastics Pact Roadmap to 2025 provides a framework for all businesses, including members, to deliver the ambitious targets. Together, UK Plastic Pact member businesses are responsible for eighty per cent of plastic packaging sold through UK supermarkets, and half of all packaging placed on the market. The Roadmap is a guide for businesses and others to know what actions need to be taken, by when, and outlines some of the key challenges that will need to be overcome. It has been designed by WRAP as a living document that will evolve over time, reflecting changes in policy and innovations. The Roadmap also includes commentary on the complementary roles of Government and citizens to ensure the UK moves towards a circular economy for plastics.

Marcus Gover, chief executive, WRAP, explained: “We have sixty-eight of the UK’s largest businesses and organisations committed to the UK Plastics Pact from retail and brands, manufacturers and hospitality, to the plastic supply sector, recycling and resource management. I’m very impressed with progress made in the first six months since we launched the Pact. This is proving to be a powerful and motivated group. The Roadmap is a real opportunity for them to forge ahead and make change happen at scale, and in significant ways.”

The UK Plastics Pact Roadmap to 2025 aims to move plastics from being a single-use disposable material to a valued resource, in line with the circular economy model, while avoiding unintended environmental consequences of actions such as substitution or blanket removal which could lead to increased greenhouse gas emissions and/or increased food waste.

The outcomes of the Roadmap will help reduce confusion as to whether packaging is recyclable; if the targets are achieved all plastic packaging will be recyclable or compostable by 2025.

The roadmap also sets interim targets for increasing recycling and recycled content. Achieving this will require investment in the UK recycling infrastructure and would be expected to generate new jobs, while easing the pressure of plastic waste exportation.

Packagingnews.co.uk explains how WRAP has set three key milestones dates: April 2019, the end of 2022 and finally by 2025. It will also look to utilise flagship projects to tackle the barriers to improved sorting, recycling and use of recycled content. To support this a £1.4 million flagship projects competition was launched at the UK Plastics Pact Summit, in October. The competition forms part of the £20 million Plastic Research and Innovation fund, which was announced by the Chancellor during the Autumn Statement in 2017, to engage Britain’s best scientists and innovators towards sustainable approaches to plastics.