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Leading household brands join forces to tackle flexible plastic packaging recycling in the UK

flexible packaging

Nestlé has joined the Flexible Packaging Consortium with Ella’s Kitchen, Mars, Nestlé, and Taylors of Harrogate, along with waste and recycling experts SUEZ. The consortium has released a new report providing recommendations to increase flexible packaging recycling in the UK.

The report findings show the collection and recycling of flexible packaging brought into kerbside collections across the UK beginning in 2023. Currently around 215 billion items of flexible plastic packaging, such as confectionery wrappers, pet and baby food pouches, bread bags and crisp packets, are on the market in the UK each year and most is sent to landfill.

The Consortium formed 18 months ago with the shared knowledge that packaging recycling cannot be solved by one company alone and collaboration with other industry experts would have the biggest impact on tackling packaging waste.

Stefano Agostini, CEO for Nestlé UK and Ireland said: “We know there is power in working together across businesses and industry, and by joining forces we can have more influence in making sure our packaging can be recycled. We cannot solve this problem alone and I am proud to be working in the Consortium to tackle this collective issue which has such a huge impact on our planet.”

Stuart Hayward-Higham, Technical Development Director for SUEZ recycling and recovery UK and author of the report said:  “This report summarises many months of research and collaboration across the value chain to understand issues and demonstrates a real potential to move more plastic packaging into the recycling bin. Collecting flexible plastic packaging and films from homes and businesses would help improve recycling rates and create a more circular system for flexible plastic packaging, so we are encouraged both by the findings and by the effective partnership working that made it possible to complete the research.”