The warning follows Defra’s announcement last week (16 July 2026) that the requirement for councils in England to collect flexible plastic packaging at the kerbside will be pushed back from March 2027 to 1 April 2030.
The FPF said it was “deeply concerned” by the decision and criticised the government’s consultation process, claiming it had not been included in Defra’s “extensive engagement with the sector” despite leading the UK’s largest trial of household flexible plastic collections.
Gareth Morton, Discovery Manager at Ecosurety and FPF lead, said: “As the UK’s centre of collaboration for flexible plastic packaging, responsible for the largest UK trial for household collections, we are deeply concerned by this announcement.
“Defra’s ‘extensive engagement with the sector’ did not include the Flexible Plastic Fund, despite holding the most comprehensive evidence base on how to make household collections of flexible plastics work effectively.”
Calls for flexible plastic transition plan
The FPF is calling on government, producers and the waste sector to work together on a phased transition plan to help restore confidence following the delay.
It says a clear delivery roadmap should be established, setting out local authority readiness, key milestones and responsibilities, while providing greater transparency over how extended producer responsibility (EPR) fees will be used to support the rollout of collections.
The organisation has also urged Defra to continue recognising front-of-store collection schemes during the extended transition period, arguing producers should not be penalised while kerbside collections are unavailable nationwide.
Gareth Callan, UK Packaging Sustainability Lead at PepsiCo and FPF spokesperson, said: “A three-year delay does not simply pause progress; it risks destroying investor confidence at the very point when the UK needs to scale up its domestic reprocessing capacity.
“We look forward to working with Defra this Autumn to agree how organisations across the recycling system can continue building collection, sorting and recycling capacity over the next three years rather than leaving the sector facing a single, high-risk deadline in 2030.”
The FlexCollect Trial
The FlexCollect project, which ran between 2022 and 2025, aimed to demonstrate that household collections of flexible plastics are both practical and cost-effective.
Developed in partnership with government, local authorities, waste management companies and the recycling industry, the trial collected more than 400 tonnes of flexible plastic packaging from around 160,000 households.
According to the FPF, the project showed strong public support for kerbside collections and helped demonstrate how the material could be collected at scale.
The organisation added that, following Defra’s confirmation of the original 2027 deadline in 2023, industry had been preparing for the rollout, with around 70% of local authorities expected to introduce collections by that date.
Despite the delay, the FPF said its work to support future flexible plastic recycling infrastructure will continue.
Its FlexCircular project, launched in June 2026, is examining future demand for recycled flexible plastics, the infrastructure needed to process the material in the UK and the policy measures required to support investment.
The project is expected to publish its findings later this year.
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