The UK’S “Plastic Pact”

Being in the renewable energy industry for a number of years, I have witnessed many projects to help tackle the challenges the industry is facing. Having assisted in the implementation of many energy efficient measures within the company, it is great to see the government backing much needed environmental strategies.

As a lot of you will have already seen; the government recently introduced a 25-year environment plan; a set of goals for improving the environment, within a generation and leaving it in a better state than it was found. Off the back of this plan, a new initiative has been introduced designed to reduce the total amount of plastic packaging in the UK. 

Thousands of companies in the UK have signed and agreed to several targets as part of the UK’s Plastic Pact. Including; removing unnecessary packaging and changing the designs of their products so that all packaging can be recycled, composted or reused. The plastic pact aims for 70% of plastic packaging to be recycled or composted by 2025, compared the current rate of 46%. 

The UK Plastic Pact, launched by sustainability experts WRAP (www.wrap.org.uk), is a unique collaboration bringing together businesses from across the entire plastic value chain. The Pact will explore innovative new business models to reduce the total amount of plastic packaging.

42 businesses, including major food, drink and non-food brands manufacturers through to plastic reprocesses and packaging suppliers have made their commitment into the Plastic Pact. Members of the Pact are responsible for over 80% of the plastic packaging products sold throughout the UK supermarkets. An additional 15 other organisations have also shown their commitment to the Pact.

Tesco, Sainsbury’s, ASDA and Unilever are among the major UK companies who have signed up to the pledge to tackle plastic waste. This is the first Pact of its kind in the word and will be replicated in other countries, led by WRAP -  the sustainability experts.

The success of this Pact will depend heavily on consumers successfully increasing the amount of plastic they recycle at home. To ensure this happens, Wrap is planning a major public awareness campaign.

Environment secretary, Michael Gove, said: “Our ambition to eliminate avoidable plastic waste will only be realised if government, businesses and the public work together”. We are currently in the planning stage of our commitment to this strategy and we are excited to be recognised as leaders within the industry due to this.

At GEC, we continuously advise our clients on the next big move in the industry and helping them to become compliant. We are committed to helping businesses become more energy efficient and bring a wealth of practical and sustainable solutions to help targets like this one such as ISO implementation and carbon management strategies to reduce overall carbon footprint and expenditure.