With one in five (21%) having said they always read the recycling instructions on product packaging; this increases to almost one in three (31%) in the 25 – 34 age group but drops to 17% for those aged 65 and over. However, almost one in ten said they “never bother” reading whether the packaging they have bought can be recycled.
The survey may point to a problem with the recycling instructions producers are using on their packaging. Only 10% of Brits said they always find instructions on how to dispose of packaging easy to understand, with 52% describing them as “sometimes” understandable and just 29% saying they are “often” easy to understand.
When asked which every-day packaging is the easiest to dispose of and recycle, over half stated paper; followed by glass (18%) plastic (13%), mixed materials (9%) and metal (7%).
With 12 million tonnes of packaging waste thrown away in the UK annually, the government introduced Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) on 1 January 2025 to help tackle the problem.
EPR mandates the use of universally understandable labels on packaging, indicating whether an item is recyclable or not, simplifying the process for consumers. By making producers financially responsible for the collection and recycling of their packaging, EPR encourages them to design products and packaging that are easier to recycle and reuse, reducing the amount of difficult-to-recycle material on the market.
With this in mind, Aquapak has called on the government to ensure that legislation underpinning the EPR enables producers to use new materials if they are to decrease the total environmental impact of their products by moving away for hard to recycle conventional plastics.
‘A very long way to go’
Dr John Williams, chief technical officer at Aquapak, said: “Our research findings suggest that there is a very long way to go when it comes to making packaging recyclability in the UK easy to understand for the consumer, particularly as so much of it contains hard to recycle plastic material.
“There needs to be a significant shift away from the status quo for packaging. New legislation should support faster adoption of innovation that is specifically developed to retain packaging functionality, support recyclability and offer safe end of life options if optimal waste management processes are not available.
“We would also argue that if the target of EPR is to ensure that producers actively engage in sustainable practices and decrease the total environmental impact from their products and packaging, we can’t keep using the same tools and materials to fix the problem. Extended responsibility must also mean an extension to include the use of proven new materials to help producers recycle more effectively without compromising the integrity of their products.”
Want to hear more about EPR? Find out more about letsrecycle.com’s EPR Conference here.
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