Summit Key Themes

EPR is now one of the most disruptive forces in UK packaging.

• EPR cost modelling and reporting readiness
• What brands, converters, and retailers must do now
• Data accuracy, compliance systems, and auditing
• Interaction with Simpler Recycling and future DRS
• Managing financial risk and contract renegotiation

Design decisions made today determine recyclability, cost, and compliance tomorrow.

• Designing for UK recycling infrastructure, not theory
• Moving from “recyclable” to “actually recycled”
• Mono-materials vs performance trade-offs
• Packaging optimisation and lightweighting
• Reuse and refill models at scale

Plastic scrutiny remains intense, but alternatives bring new challenges.

• The real sustainability trade-offs of paper, fibre, aluminium, glass
• Bio-based and compostable materials: hype vs reality
• Barrier technologies and shelf-life protection
• Food vs non-food applications
• Infrastructure readiness for new materials

Packaging sustainability only works if collection and processing works.

• UK recycling capacity gaps and investment needs
• Consistency of collections under Simpler Recycling
• MRF technology, sorting accuracy, and contamination
• Hard-to-recycle formats and flexibles
• Public behaviour change and communication

Carbon is now a commercial and regulatory KPI, not just an ESG goal.

• Standardising LCA and carbon foot-printing
• Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions for packaging
• Low-carbon materials and manufacturing
• Offsetting vs genuine carbon reduction
• Supply chain transparency and reporting

Sustainability must be economically viable to succeed.

• Cost inflation, margin pressure, and “green premiums”
• ROI on sustainability investments
• Private equity and investor expectations
• Innovation funding and government support
• Skills, talent, and workforce transformation