The FlexCircular initiative will undertake comprehensive research to establish the scale of investment required across the UK to recycle up to 400,000 tonnes of post-consumer plastic packaging annually by 2030.
A particular focus will be placed on achieving circularity for food-contact flexible packaging, with the ambition of enabling material such as crisp packets and bread bags to be recycled back into food-contact applications.
The project is being developed collaboratively with input from Defra, PackUK, the Welsh Government and Zero Waste Scotland.
A specially commissioned project team comprising Suez Recycling and Recovery UK, CEFLEX, WRAP and RECOUP will support delivery.
What is FlexCircular?
FlexCircular is the latest phase of work by the Flexible Plastic Fund, designed to address one of the biggest challenges facing the UK plastics sector: what happens after flexible packaging is collected.
The initiative is seeking to answer the following questions:
- How much recycled flexible plastic might be needed by industry from 2030 onwards, and will supply meet demand?
- What types of recycling facilities (mechanical, chemical, or future technologies) may be needed in the UK, and at what capacity?
- What level of investment might be required to build this infrastructure?
- What are the costs and risks of continuing with ‘business as usual’ (using virgin plastics) and what conditions may help support UK recycling infrastructure investment?
Findings from the project are expected to be published towards the end of 2026.
Gareth Morton, Discovery Manager at Ecosurety and FPF lead, commented: “We’re delighted to build on the success of the FPF FlexCollect project and continue to work alongside experts in the industry to take flexible plastics recycling to the next level.
“FPF FlexCircular is about turning the proof of collections into a real, investable circular system.
“By understanding what the UK needs in terms of investment, infrastructure and policy, we can maximise the opportunity to recycle flexible plastics at scale, creating benefits for industry, consumers, and the environment alike.”
FlexCollect lays the groundwork
The launch of FlexCircular follows the publication of the FlexCollect report in September 2025, which consolidated more than three years of learnings from the UK’s largest household flexible plastic collection trial.
The programme involved 10 pilot local authorities and 160,000 households, collecting more than 400 tonnes of flexible plastic packaging — equivalent to over 50 million bread bags.
Managed by environmental consultancy Ecosurety in collaboration with Suez, RECOUP and WRAP, the project demonstrated that kerbside collection of flexible plastic packaging is operationally achievable at scale.
The project come ahead of the implementation of mandatory household flexible plastic collections in England from 2027 under the government’s Simpler Recycling reforms.
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