Every packaging supplier in the UK now claims to offer sustainable packaging. Corrugated manufacturers quote 85% recovery rates. Flexible plastic suppliers talk about bio-based films. Even polystyrene foam companies have found an angle. The claims aren't all wrong, but they're not all what they appear to be either.
Here's how to separate the claims that represent real progress from the ones that don't.
"Recyclable" is not the same as "recycled": why the gap matters
Recyclability is the most widely cited sustainability credential in packaging, and the most frequently misused. A material being technically recyclable in the right conditions is a very different thing from it actually being collected and processed in the UK.
Corrugated board has a genuinely strong story here. Around 85% of corrugated produced in the UK is recovered and recycled, underpinned by an existing collection and reprocessing infrastructure. The material actually goes around the loop. That's real.
A compostable plastic mailer is a different situation. Most are technically home or industrially compostable, but industrial composting infrastructure isn't available to most UK consumers, and the bags aren't accepted in kerbside collections. The vast majority end up in general waste. The claim is technically defensible and practically misleading.
When a supplier describes packaging as recyclable, ask two questions: is it collected in UK kerbside recycling, and is there published recovery rate data to support that? "Recyclable under the right conditions" and "widely recycled" are not equivalent claims.
The intervention with the biggest environmental impact is often the simplest one
Most sustainability discussions in packaging focus on material substitution: swap plastic for paper, swap virgin fibre for recycled content, switch from standard PE film to biodegradable alternatives. These switches matter. But right-sizing packaging (reducing its dimensions to match the actual product) typically has a larger environmental impact than switching materials, and it also reduces cost.
A business shipping products in boxes that are 30% larger than necessary is using 30% more board, 30% more void fill, 30% more space on each pallet, and generating 30% more EPR fee liability. A box right-sized to the product eliminates all of that. The environmental gain from a 20% reduction in total material used typically exceeds the gain from switching from standard recycled-content board to an FSC-certified equivalent.
Before investing in a material substitution programme, calculate how much material you're currently over-using. Right-sizing is almost always a better first step.
What EPR has changed about the economics
Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging came into force in the UK in 2025. Businesses supplying more than 25 tonnes of packaging annually with turnover above £1 million now pay fees based on the weight and type of packaging they put on the market. The fee rates vary by material and recyclability rating.
Plastic packaging attracts substantially higher EPR fees than paper and board. Packaging assessed as having low recyclability (mixed-material constructions, laminates, non-kerbside-recyclable formats) attracts higher fees than packaging with high recyclability ratings.
This creates a direct financial incentive to improve recyclability that didn't exist before. Some material switches that look expensive when you only consider unit cost become cost-neutral or positive when EPR fee savings are included. If you haven't modelled your packaging against the EPR fee schedule, you're likely missing some commercially straightforward decisions.
The interventions that actually move the needle
In rough order of impact for most UK businesses:
Reduce total material used first: right-size, eliminate unnecessary secondary layers, cut void fill. After that, focus on kerbside recyclability, particularly for consumer-facing packaging. Eliminate mixed-material constructions that prevent recycling: foil laminations on otherwise recyclable cartons, plastic windows in kraft mailers. Most corrugated board already contains significant recycled fibre, so that switch is often already made. Finally, consider transport density. Packaging that stacks efficiently on pallets reduces the number of vehicle movements per thousand units shipped.
Material switching between specific paper types or between sustainably sourced grades tends to be the last thing that makes a meaningful difference, not the first.