Jack of all trades, master of none – it’s how I often describe my role as editor of Green Retail World.
From circular fashion and materials composition to the decarbonisation of fleets, importance of supply chain transparency and the rise in regenerative farming, the subjects this title covers are broad. And I need a base level of knowledge of it all. That’s why wrapping myself into a full day at an event like London Packaging Week is so useful – I can rip into one specific subject area and come out of it well educated, if not quite the expert.
This year’s event, held at London’s famous old Excel venue again, actually ran with a theme of “discovery” and there was lots to learn about packaging, retail, and sustainability on day one (Tuesday) when I was in attendance.
A key theme throughout was the subject of packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (pEPR). Esther Carter, chief strategy officer at UK EPR scheme administrator PackUK, gave delegates an update on the progress of the scheme in its first year. She revealed a five-year strategy laying out the roadmap for successful delivery is imminent, after a first 12 months of getting things off the ground.
“We now have more data about the packaging that is being put onto the market,” she explained.
“Our recyclability assessment methodology uses a simple red, amber, or green traffic light system, where red material is fundamentally incompatible with the recycling system as it exists today, and we see in the latest data that about 20% of packaging on the market is red.”
Carter added: “One in seven producers are exclusively putting red material onto the market, while about 75% are putting in a blend of red, amber, and green. For balance, about 10% of producers are exclusively putting green materials onto the market. This data and evidence will support our roadmap going forwards to drive higher quality recycling outputs.”
The strategy boss suggested some councils are making better progress with recycling and improving waste management than others. Fundamentally, though, she said this is “no longer hypothetical paperwork”, with councils already spending the EPR money generated on improving waste and collection services.
For example, Aberdeenshire Council has purchased new collection vehicles and upgraded glass recycling facilities, while Suffolk County Council is increasing material recovery facilities capacity to support dual stream collection.
Carter said PackUK has been working hard to ensure there are no “free riders in the system”, but acknowledged there is a balancing act between using the carrot and stick to ensure local councils move in a positive direction. This is especially important because – as Carter commented – UK consumer confidence in recycling is tracking the wrong direction.
Elsewhere, the event focused a lot on the imminent UK deposit return scheme (DRS). Naomi Brandon-Bravo, sustainability policy advisor at the British Retail Consortium, said reverse vending machines are already arriving in stores in preparation for launch in October 2027.
“There’s still a long way to go, there’s a lot to collaborate on and accelerate,” she added.
“We need to get those final pieces of the scheme in place to make sure we don’t end up with a confused consumer base. Retail needs to rally around logistics, the collections, and how we get materials out of stores.”
Tom Fiennes, sustainability director at Carlsberg Britvic, revealed his company will have more than 1,000 SKUs affected by the DRS.
“My assessment is that we’re moving from a ‘will we, won’t we’ situation into operational readiness. Everyone needs to be playing their part in the whole value chain. If any element of that isn’t working, it’s going to cause a problem.”
Innovative thinking in packaging
Swinging by the exhibition stands, there were three companies that stood out to me from a sustainability perspective.
Movopack was one. Already working with retailers such as OVS and Decathlon in Europe, the provider of reusable and customisable packaging is looking to gain ground in the UK market. At the core of its proposition is reusable packaging that features a pre-paid returns label allowing consumers to send it back after they receive it.
The theory goes that by using Movopack multiple times, it reduces the demand on virgin materials and single-use packaging, all the while encouraging more circular consumer behaviours. Movopack appearing more widely in UK retail soon is my prediction.
Meanwhile, the similarly named Micro-Pak was in situ at the expo again, with the team there saying a growing number of retailers are turning away from using silica gel in their packaging to protect parcels from mould and moisture damage during transit. More retailers are using Micro-Pak’s plastic-free desiccants which come in biodegradable packaging, and there is hope within the company that others will follow.
Just think for a minute the difference retailers sending millions of parcels a year could make in terms of plastic reduction simply by removing traditional silica gel from the packaging.
It was also nice seeing packaging consultancy Aura Global out in the wild for the first time since Aura and creative agency Sun Branding joined forces to rebrand back in May.
The newly created entity is designed to help retailers and brands navigate growing sustainability, regulatory, and operational pressures, and it will be supporting organisations including retailers around complex demands to do with legislation, supply chains, brand differentiation and environmental performance.
Future ready? Aura Global formed to help retailers navigate packaging sustainability demands
Overheard in the aisles
The best part of any trade show is the networking, in my view – and I was pleased to connect with many new retailers and suppliers, and re-connect with existing contacts, to help gather a better picture of the sustainability challenges the industry faces and the progress being made.
From what I understand, general merchandise retailer B&M is building a dedicated sustainability team – with some roles already filled – as new legislation requires more attention in this space.
I also picked up on the excitement mounting in the B Corp community, with five brands recently selected as this year’s winners of the Channel 4 x B Corp initiative which is rewarding creative ideas with TV advertising to help grow their businesses. This year’s winners – TOTM, Holy Moly, Klyk, SURI, and Faith In Nature – will receive a share of £600,000 in Channel 4 airtime, including a special primetime ad-break takeover later this year.
This will result in great exposure for the companies selected but I imagine the internal cost of creating the ads has been a challenge for some of the organisations involved. Hopefully for them, though, it’ll drive new customers their way soon enough and will more than pay for itself in the long run.
Another new learning for me, and in keeping with the opening lines of this blog… I also only discovered earlier this year the full saying is ‘a jack of all trades is a master of none but oftentimes better than a master of one.’ And it is in that spirit I will continue to keep turning up to these industry events – be it a packaging show in London, supply chain conference in Milan (that’s next month) or an agentic AI industry event in Amsterdam (that’s for the end of September) – to hear the latest news from those at the heart of the sector before relaying it to the Green Retail World audience.
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Ben Sillitoe, editor, Green Retail World (@bsillitoe)
[image credits: Green Retail World]
