Making plastic packaging fit for a sustainable future
UKRI’s £60 million Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging (SSPP) Challenge has established the UK as a leading innovator in sustainable plastics, driving cleaner growth across the plastics, packaging and retail supply chains and delivering a reduction in plastic waste entering the environment.
Taking a collaborative, cross-sector approach, the Challenge has brought together academia, industry and the third sector to tackle the technical, commercial and behavioural challenges associated with plastic packaging waste.
Aligned to the Waste Hierarchy, it has supported a portfolio of over 80 projects aimed at:
- delivering a reduction in unnecessary and single-use plastic packaging
- increasing the viability and uptake of reuse and refill systems
- supporting new and improved recycling technologies and systems
Running from 2019 to 2025, the Challenge has deployed almost £60m of public funding and attracted over £274m of co-investment. From early-stage research to large-scale demonstrator plants and infrastructure, it has supported bold, ambitious innovation to bring about wholescale change in the UK’s ability to reduce, reuse and recycle plastic packaging.
SSPP project highlights
UK’s first refillable plastic milk bottle scheme – Abel & Cole
Successful in-store (Aldi UK) and online grocery (Ocado) refill trials – GoUnpackaged
World first chemical recycling plant – ReNew ELP/Mura Technology
World first mechanical recycling plant for food-grade polypropylene – Berry Global
Earthshot prize for seaweed-derived packaging – Notpla Ltd
Launch of an Open Standard for packaging data – Dsposal Ltd, Open Data Manchester & partners
SSPP portfolio
SSPP-funded projects are supporting meaningful reductions in plastics packaging by:
- exploiting the opportunities offered by novel materials to eliminate single use plastic packaging
- tackling barriers to mainstreaming reuse and refill in the retail, hospitality and catering sectors
- pushing the boundaries in the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning to allow more sophisticated sorting solutions
- developing the next generation of advanced mechanical and chemical recycling processes and infrastructure
- changing the future of packaging data and deploying advanced data-driven simulation to support resource efficiency in packaging design.
Vision & Impact
From major new UK recycling infrastructure to significant greenhouse gas savings and green jobs and skills, the SSPP Challenge and its projects will have a significant impact on the future sustainability of plastic packaging. Read more here:
Learn more about SSPP’s vision and work from Challenge Director Paul Davidson and hear from thought leaders about the key challenges in making plastic packaging more sustainable and how SSPP has helped.
Supporting innovation to tackle challenges in sustainable plastic packaging – Paul Davidson, UKRI
Mark Miodownik, Professor of Materials & Society, University College London
Catherine Conway, founder and Director of GoUnpackaged
Paula Chin, Senior Policy Advisor, World Wide Fund for Nature
Funded project case studies
Berry Global
World's first mechanical recycling plant for food-grade polypropylene
Sylatech Ltd
Microwave-assisted chemical recycling for mixed plastic films
Notpla
Xampla
ReNew ELP/Mura
PPP Packaging Data
Reath
Recycling by design
GoUnpackaged
Impact recycling
Case study 1 Notpla
This London-based start-up has looked to the sea for greener materials with support from the Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging challenge.
Seaweed, which grows quickly and abundantly around the world, doesn’t need fertiliser or pesticides, doesn’t compete for space with other food crops, and doesn’t use up precious fresh water – offers many potential opportunities to develop more environmentally friendly products.
One of the most promising is as an alternative to plastic coating on paper and board. Hackney-based Notpla has developed a new kind of seaweed-derived coating as an alternative to the plastic laminates that are widely used at present (and that can make food packaging unsuitable for recycling or composting).
The seaweed-based coating makes card and paper grease-proof and water-resistant, meaning it is ideal for food packaging among other things, while still being easily recyclable using current recycling technologies. Notpla says that its coating “performs like plastic for takeaway food but degrades like a piece of fruit”, as the coating has been shown to completely degrade in home composting conditions in under 6 weeks.
Notpla is on a mission to ‘make packaging disappear’. But as Notpla’s co-founder and co-CEO Pierre Paslier explained, some technical hurdles needed to be cleared before the company could start applying its seaweed coating onto cardboard at scale.
“We realised that there was R&D to do, modifications to the manufacturing process to bring about,” he explains. “We needed trials and prototypes.”
With support from UKRI’s Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging (SSPP) Challenge, delivered by Innovate UK, Notpla was able to overcome the technical challenges it faced and demonstrate the feasibility of industrialising the process of coating paperboard with the new material.
“The SSPP grants enabled us to de-risk the manufacturing scale-up by doing early trials and testing things out of the lab,” says Pierre. “The market would be averse to funding these activities, except on terms that would be very disadvantageous to you. The funding lets you keep control of your inventions as you grow.”
Take-away food containers featuring Notpla's seaweed-based coating. SSPP funding helped Notpla to demonstrate the feasibility of industrialising the coating process
Take-away food containers featuring Notpla's seaweed-based coating. SSPP funding helped Notpla to demonstrate the feasibility of industrialising the coating process
From strength to strength
Having demonstrated the ability to scale, Notpla's plastic-free takeaway packaging range has been listed with major European catering distributors such as Bunzl, Bidfood and Brakes. Significant market penetration has occurred in the past 12 months, with strategic partnerships created with leading caterers including Levy and Aramark to supply their low-impact packaging to stadiums, offices, universities and businesses.
In 2024 alone, Notpla’s food packaging replaced 10 million items of single-use plastic, everywhere from Wimbledon to Aston Villa’s stadium and The O2. The company also continues to work with Just Eat, following their successful trial back in 2019, with the collaboration expanding to 10 European markets and used throughout UEFA football tournaments to help fans reduce waste.
Notpla’s co-founder and co-CEO Pierre Paslier
Notpla’s co-founder and co-CEO Pierre Paslier
Since receiving the SSPP funding, Notpla has grown – from around 20 employees at the start of 2021 to around 60 – and has continued to develop the product range with further equity financing. The costs of seaweed coatings have also fallen relative to plastic coatings and as Pierre Paslier is keen to point out, plastic coatings can be seen as being artificially cheap, because their price “doesn’t take account of the societal cost of their end-of-life on our health and ecosystems”.
Notpla also won the Earthshot Prize in 2022, which has attracted further investment, and the firm is reporting interest in its plastic-free coating from numerous companies across the cosmetics, hygiene and catering sectors.
This interest is likely to grow; in November 2023, after a nine-month extensive assessment process, Notpla’s plant-based packaging was recognised by the Dutch government as the first and only material to meet the EU’s strictest plastic-free criteria under the EU’s Single-Use Plastics Directive. Following the announcement, the company has signed an agreement with Dutch packager Conpax who will be designing, manufacturing, and supplying innovative sustainable single-use products made from Notpla coated board throughout the Benelux region.
With the two rounds of funding from the SSPP Challenge, Notpla says its solutions have already eliminated over 20 million pieces of single-use plastic and it is aiming to replace 1 billion plastic units by 2030. The company has gone on to attract further investment and has recently secured an unprecedented £20 million in equity fundraising which will support expansion into new markets and accelerate the development of its next-generation, seaweed-based packaging solutions.
GoUnpackaged:
Mainstreaming refill solutions to reduce single use packaging
Case study 2 Xampla
Cambridge-based materials innovation company Xampla is creating world-first materials made from plants, designed to enhance performance, create new experiences, and eliminate the world’s most polluting plastics.
A University of Cambridge spin-out, with a mission to replace single-use plastics, Xampla has created a new class of fully biodegradable and home compostable materials made from natural plant polymers – offering functionality and barrier properties comparable to fossil-fuel based plastics.
From the outset, Xampla’s materials showed promise in a range of applications, but one of the most innovative was in high performance, soluble films that dissolve in water and leave no harmful residues. In 2021, £653,304 of funding from UKRI's Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging (SSPP) Challenge, delivered by Innovate UK, enabled Xampla to start investigating how natural plant polymer technology could be used in food applications with the development of an edible, food-grade film. This offers an exciting opportunity to eliminate the most polluting single-use plastics.
“We realised that we had the opportunity to develop a high performance food-grade packaging material that would break down completely and safely at end of life and could deliver performance benefits compared to bio-based alternatives currently under development,” explains Dr Amy Charbonneau, R&D Operations Manager.
Establishing partnerships with these major brands would not have been possible without the backing from Innovate UK and the SSPP Challenge
Dr Amy Charbonneau, R&D Operations Manager
By this stage, the potential to use natural plant polymers in more packaging applications was clear and Xampla was successful in winning a third SSPP grant award in 2023 to build on the learning from the edible films projects to develop a food packaging barrier coating. This funding allowed the firm to prove the feasibility of the coating, test the product performance, and move towards commercial scale production.
“Approximately 3.4 million tonnes of functional and barrier coatings are used in paper and board applications (2023), including 188,100 tonnes of thermoplastic polymer coatings for the foodservice sector alone1,” explains Amy. “The majority of these disposable packages are coated with petrochemical-based polymers and fluorochemicals which do not break down in the environment, so there was a clear market for this innovation.”
In autumn 2023 Xampla launched Morro™ materials
In autumn 2023 Xampla launched Morro™ materials
Commercialising the innovation
In 2023, Xampla launched Morro™ materials which replace plastic barrier coatings, flexible films and microencapsulates.
Xampla’s Morro™ Coating is a high-performing, PFAS-free and plastic-free alternative to fossil-based coatings, commonly found on takeaway boxes. Where Morro™ Coating is applied to paper or card, it is compatible with existing recycling processes and is Single-Use Plastics Directive (SUPD) exempt.
In addition, Morro™ Coating is vegan and food contact safe, offering grease, water, and oxygen barrier performance, as well as the heat-sealability properties that brands and consumers need.
By late 2023, the company had secured its first technology licensing agreement with 2M Group of Companies enabling the manufacturing of Morro™ Coating at tonnes scale. This strategic partnership quickly expanded, with 2M Group of Companies and Huhtamaki announcing a multi-year supply deal in 2024 to use Morro™ Coating for takeaway boxes. A further multi-year commercial supply agreement with Transcend Packaging was announced in October 2024.
Morro™ Coating is expected to replace up to 25,000 tonnes of plastic coating, that would otherwise be destined for landfill, incineration, or littering our soils and seas, by 2029.
As Xampla's product range and market presence have grown, the company has formed partnerships with major brands including Britvic, Gousto, Yili, and ELEMIS Skincare. The company has received industry-wide recognition through multiple prestigious awards, including, WIRED Trailblazer Award 2024, and the BBIA Demeter Award's Collaboration Award 2024. The company was also listed in the Sunday Times 100 Tech 'Ones to Watch' in 2025.
“The financial and professional support we have received from the SSPP Challenge and Innovate UK has helped us to attract further investment and grow to meet demand – from three people in the early days to a staff of 39” says Amy.
[1] Smithers, The Future of Functional and Barrier Coatings for Paper & Board to 2028; UK, 2023. The Future of Functional & Barrier Coatings for Paper & Board to 2028 - Smithers
Case study 3 ReNew ELP/Mura Technology
Mura Technology has constructed a world-first facility that can recycle post-consumer plastic packaging, including ‘hard-to-recycle’ formats such as flexibles and multi-layered films, into circular hydrocarbons for use in the manufacturing of new plastic.
It is estimated that only 14% of global plastic packaging material is collected for recycling[i], but a new UKRI-backed plant will provide a recycling route for plastics considered ‘unrecyclable’ and which would otherwise go to incineration or landfill.
Mura Technology’s ReNew ELP plant in Teesside uses Mura’s innovative hydrothermal technology Hydro-PRT® to convert waste plastic packaging, such as flexible and multi-layered films, into useful raw materials for the manufacture of new plastics, contributing to a circular economy for plastics and replacing the need for fossil resource.
Dr Geoff Brighty, Head of Sustainability and R&D at Mura Technology, said: “We see end-of-life plastic not as a problem that must be buried or burned at the expense of the natural world, but as a resource that can be recovered and re-used, contributing to a low-carbon, sustainable future.”
Mura’s Hydro-PRT® process is the next generation of advanced plastic recycling due to its use of supercritical water (water under high pressure and high temperature, above its critical point), which distinguishes it from alternative advanced recycling processes, such as pyrolysis. Supercritical water ensures an efficient and scalable heat transfer and enables the recycling of contaminated and flexible plastics, such as post-consumer, multi-layered food packaging, resulting in high yields of circular hydrocarbon products with a low carbon footprint[ii] for use in the manufacture of new, virgin-grade plastics.
The main process structure at Mura Technology's ReNew ELP facility in Wilton, Teesside, UK
The main process structure at Mura Technology's ReNew ELP facility in Wilton, Teesside, UK
Hydro-PRT® has the potential to significantly reduce the need for fossil resource in plastics production and permanently increase material circularity in the plastics industry. By providing a route to recycling for these materials, Mura has created a complementary process to operate alongside traditional mechanical recycling, as highlighted in a recent technical report by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC)[iii].
In 2020, the project received £4.4 million in funding from UKRI’s Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging (SSPP) Challenge, delivered by Innovate UK. This world-first commercial-scale demonstrator facility, which is now in the final commissioning stage stage and due to commence commercial operations in H1 2025, will produce 20kta of circular hydrocarbons, with scope to expand production capacity to over three times this initial size. It will provide up to 50 direct jobs, having created approximately 150 jobs during the build and commissioning phases, and approximately 100 further jobs within related infrastructure to support operations.
Our plant represents a new beginning for chemical manufacturing in the Northeast of England, as circularity and sustainability become important drivers and we look towards a net zero future for the chemicals industry.
Dr Geoff Brighty, Head of Sustainability and R&D at Mura Technology
As well as providing a circular solution for plastic waste, independent Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) based on the first site at Teesside[iv] have shown the Hydro-PRT® process provides an 80% carbon emissions saving by diverting ‘unrecyclable’ plastic away from incineration. It is also the first chemical recycling process to be listed on the ecoinvent life cycle inventory database.
Attracting worldwide interest
Alongside funding from the SSPP Challenge, the development of the technology has been supported by investment from blue-chip companies across the plastic recycling value chain, including Dow, KBR and CP Chem. These partnerships have enabled Mura to begin scaling worldwide and via its exclusive Global Licensing Partner, preferred engineering partner and investor KBR, the company has sold technology licences to global chemical leaders Mitsubishi and LG Chem. Both sites are under development and now being commissioned in Japan and South Korea.
Dr Geoff Brighty said: “Government funding has been a huge support. Not only has it enabled us to move forward rapidly with the construction of our plant, engineering procurement and project management, but it has also helped de-risk the project and attract other investors.
“More than that, the partnership with UKRI has brought about collaboration with new stakeholders including the Warwick Manufacturing Group at the University of Warwick, whilst helping to raise awareness of our operation and this developing chemical processing sector to regulators. Strategically, that's been massive for us.
“Our first facility represents a new, sustainable chapter for the chemical manufacturing industry in Teesside. With the recent announcements of investment in the area, including the Freeport, we are at the beginning of a green revolution in the Northeast.”
[i] The New Plastics Economy: Rethinking the future of plastics & catalysing action, Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2017) The New Plastics Economy: Rethinking the future of plastics & catalysing action (ellenmacarthurfoundation.org)
[ii] Hydrothermal Treatment of Waste Plastics: An Environmental Impact Study, Ozoemena, M.C., Coles, S.R., 2023 - Hydrothermal Treatment of Waste Plastics: An Environmental Impact Study | Journal of Polymers and the Environment (springer.com)
[iii] Environmental and Economic Assessment of Plastic Waste Recycling, Garcia-Gutierrez, P., Amadei, A.M., Klenert, D., Nessi, S., Tonini, D., Tosches, D., Ardente, F., Saveyn, H. European Commission, Joint Research Centre JRC Publications Repository - Environmental and economic assessment of plastic waste recycling (europa.eu)
[iv] Hydrothermal Treatment of Waste Plastics: An Environmental Impact Study, Ozoemena, M.C., Coles, S.R., 2023 - Hydrothermal Treatment of Waste Plastics: An Environmental Impact Study | Journal of Polymers and the Environment (springer.com)
Case study 4 Open 3P
This industry-led project has developed an Open Standard for packaging data and a data-sharing platform, both of which deliver a ‘single source of truth’ approach to packaging data, reducing regulatory compliance costs, ensuring alignment and collaboration across the packaging supply chain, and supporting sustainability targets.
‘Data is king’ is a familiar phrase but building good data and exploiting its full potential remains a challenge for many sectors. The packaging sector is a perfect example: a complex and dynamic industry that depends on data to support a growing focus on sustainability and to comply with a raft of new policy and regulation around packaging waste – packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and the UK Plastic Packaging Tax to name but two.
Cue the Plastic Packaging Portals Project, which was awarded funding by UKRI’s Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging (SSPP) Challenge, delivered by Innovate UK, to develop a free-to-use Open Data Standard for packaging and a data-sharing platform to increase collaboration and transparency across the packaging supply chain.
The project was highly collaborative, involving a consortium of industry partners (Dsposal, Ecosurety, Open Data Manchester, OPRL and RECOUP) and input from over 200 stakeholders across the packaging value chain. The aim is to help everyone involved in manufacturing, selling, and recycling packaging to collate and share data with each other and with regulators and government agencies to comply with current and forthcoming environmental legislation.
Unlocking the power of data
Open Standards are standards that are free to adopt, implement and extend, and are usually developed and maintained through consensus and collaboration. They are already widely used – HTML, the standard global markup language for creating Web pages, is a good example – and have driven transformational change in areas including open banking and government IT.
“The Open 3P data standard provides a framework and a ‘common language’ to allow the packaging supply chain and its customers to share compatible packaging data easily, quickly, and cost effectively,” explains Julian Tait, CEO of Open Data Manchester, the independent, not-for-profit organisation that has delivered the technical development of the standard.
In addition, because it takes a material-based approach rather than focusing on specific regulations, the standard is applicable anywhere in the world, allowing organisations to exchange standardised packaging data regardless of their regulatory environment.
Following on from the Open 3P standard and built around it, the GING cloud-based software platform launched at the end of 2023 and enables users to store and share data on packaging along their supply chains, both domestic and international, in a quick, user-friendly and secure way. It allows data to flow through the system, from packaging materials suppliers right through to the point where final pack formats are placed on the market. It also facilitates key data flowing back down the chain from retailers and brands.
“The Open 3P data standard and the GING cloud-based software platform enables users to seamlessly manage and share packaging data securely along their entire supply chain, unlocking valuable insights and analysis,” says Sophie Walker, chief executive of Dsposal, the lead consortium partner in the development of the GING platform.
“By promoting a better understanding of the composition of packaging formats in the supply chain, they can also support better more sustainable choices to reduce packaging and optimise recycling opportunities. Better and more granular data on plastic packaging will also be integral to the success of the UN Treaty to end plastic pollution, and we are now getting a lot of interest from around the world, including the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s Packaging Data Exchange Programme.”
Impact recycling:
Increasing recycling rates for plastic packaging films
Case study 5 Reath
With support from the Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging Challenge, this Edinburgh-based start-up has developed a new digital passport platform that makes it easier for packaging to be reused.
With packaging sustainability firmly under the spotlight, many brands and retailers are exploring how they can increase the amount of packaging that they reuse. But with only 1.6% of packaging currently reusable, there’s a mountain to climb.
A major obstacle in the way of reuse and refill has been the difficulty of knowing what a given piece of packaging has come into contact with (in case it includes allergens, for example). Legally, businesses need to have this information if they are to use a piece of packaging again.
Supported by UKRI’s Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging (SSPP) Challenge, delivered by Innovate UK, Edinburgh-based start-up Reath is helping to overcome this hurdle. Reath specialises in using digital passports to support the circular economy, aiming to bring about systemic change in the way that packaging is reused.
The team at Reath are working with many different companies, helping them to navigate the tricky business of rolling-out reuse systems
The team at Reath are working with many different companies, helping them to navigate the tricky business of rolling-out reuse systems
Reath’s SSPP-funded project involved identifying and standardising the data that needs to be collected, for packaging to be reusable. Reath (the name is a pun on the Scots word ‘eath’ meaning ‘easy’) began by asking hundreds of companies what was preventing them from reusing their packaging. Among the most important reasons was the lack of robust, reliable tracking systems to help keep tabs on each piece of packaging.
The digital platform that Reath has developed makes it possible to track the lifecycle of reusable packaging. Reuse.ID, which Reath has released as an Open Data Standard, creates a standardised ‘digital passport’ for each item: it is tagged and given a unique ID, and Reath’s software then tracks it at every stage of its lifecycle.
The tags that are used can vary. As Reath co-founder Emily Rogers explained: “We’re agnostic about the tags. QR codes, barcodes, digital watermarks, RFID… they can all be used to trace a piece of packaging, and different tags will be right for different pieces of packaging and products. With the tags, we collect biometric data for each item.”
The data that is collected includes ‘static’ information that doesn’t change – such as when a piece of packaging was made, what it was made from and what percentage of recycled material went into it – and dynamic information, such as what it’s been filled with and how many times it’s been reused.
Reath is now involved with many different companies, helping them to navigate the tricky business of rolling-out reuse systems. Though reuse.ID is freely available as a standard, many firms choose to buy Reath’s proprietary software product that incorporates reuse.ID, rather than developing their own.
For fellow co-founder Claire Rampen: “The challenge of companies redesigning their systems, to enable greater reuse, is a formidable one. It comes with risks attached. But with the support of the Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging challenge, we’ve been able to take away some of those risks for companies that want to reuse more.”
Case study 6 Recycling by design
Training courses supported by the Smart Sustainable Plastics Packaging Challenge are raising industry awareness of what makes plastic packaging recyclable.
From brands to retailers, packaging designers to manufacturers, everyone involved in the global plastics industry want to reduce the impact of plastic on the environment. And ensuring that plastic packaging can be recycled plays a big part in that.
One stumbling block has been the vital knowledge of ‘what makes plastic packaging recyclable’, which struggles to find its way from the recyclers themselves to other organisations in the supply chain. As the world’s oldest plastics trade association, the British Plastics Federation (BPF), was ideally placed to look across the entire plastic supply chain and see where the problem lay. The BPF’s over 600 member companies represent over 80% of the UK plastics industry by turnover and include polymer suppliers and packaging manufacturers at one end through to plastics recyclers at the other.
"Although useful guides to making recyclable plastic packaging do exist, we found that in practice there were gaps in who these were reaching and how effectively they were being understood,” explains Brian Lodge, Director of Packaging at the BPF.
“It’s an interesting mix of teams involved in determining the final packaging design; branding teams may care about styles and colour, purchasing teams care about cost, and some specialists focus on ensuring the filling line [where the product is ‘filled’ into the packaging] can accommodate the packaging dimensions.”
“We wanted to reach this wide range of people directly and instruct them on the key factors that mattered to ensure packaging was easy to recycle, in an interactive, engaging format that would stick in their memory.”
Brian Lodge, Director of Packaging at the BPF
Brian Lodge, Director of Packaging at the BPF
Suite of courses
With support from UKRI’s Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging (SSPP) Challenge, delivered by Innovate UK, the BPF created three online courses, showing how plastic packaging can be made recyclable, more resource-efficient and easier to re-use. The courses are for all the organisations that have an influence on plastic packaging design, including brands, manufacturers and retailers.
The online courses show how plastic packaging can be made recyclable, more resource-efficient and easier to re-use
The online courses show how plastic packaging can be made recyclable, more resource-efficient and easier to re-use
One course – Sustainable Plastic Packaging Design – is focused on basic principles of sustainable design for plastic packaging. It gives practical tips for making a piece of plastic packaging recyclable, which can be as simple as using labels that are made of the same material as the body, using glues that are soluble, and avoiding small pieces of plastic that might fall through holes in the tumbling sieve in recycling plants.
The second course – Plastic Packaging & Sustainability – focuses more on the wider issues that are at stake in the drive to reduce plastic packaging waste. It covers a range of environmental topics, including the principles of eco-design.
The third and latest course - A Guide to Incorporating Recycled Plastic into Packaging – has 8 modules, 32 quizzes, and everything you need to know about creating sustainable plastic packaging that incorporates recycled materials, from legislation to design.
Since their launch, the courses have attracted a wide range of UK and non-UK delegates from different disciplines and sectors, including major brands and retailers, universities, local authorities, research organisations and government departments.
“We’re extremely happy with the global reach of this initiative, and the impact that this is going to have on how packaging is designed around the world. Without the support from the SSPP Challenge, this just would not have been possible,” says Brian.
All the courses can be found at www.polymercourses.com
Case study 7 GoUnpackaged
A leading reuse and refill project is proving the commercial and environmental viability of refillable packaging solutions.
The implementation of reuse and refill systems is a critical step towards reducing packaging waste and improving sustainability in retail. However, logistical complexities, excessive costs and operational inefficiencies have often made these systems challenging to scale.
GoUnpackaged, an innovative sustainability consultancy, is addressing these challenges head-on. With expertise in the design and rollout of reuse and refill systems and supported by UKRI’s Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging (SSPP) Challenge, it is leading a cross-sector refillable packaging project that proves scalable, practical solutions can deliver benefits to retailers, consumers and the environment.
GoUnpackaged’s experience spans decades. From starting in London street markets, to opening the world’s first modern zero-waste shop, the company is now collaborating with major retailers to design and trial refill systems at scale.
Despite this progress, early trials with several UK retailers revealed challenges. These included the need for extra storage space and specialised cleaning facilities, additional labour time, and inefficiencies in the traditional ‘bulk bin’ designs. These issues led to additional labour costs and more space requirements than is feasible in mainstream retail.
A refill station in the Aldi UK trials
A refill station in the Aldi UK trials
"Refill systems are more complex than they might appear because they need to integrate seamlessly with retail operations,” explains Helen Clements at GoUnpackaged. “Our early experiences highlighted significant challenges the industry faces but also taught us invaluable lessons. Innovation means continually refining your approach in response to problems you could not have anticipated, and that is exactly what we have done.”
To help address these issues, GoUnpackaged, launched an SSPP-funded feasibility study in 2020 which introduced a new system of reusable vessels that are optimised for both the supply chain and retail environment. The design of these vessels improved operational efficiency and received positive feedback from the retail supply chain, demonstrating the immense potential of reuse and refill to become a sustainable part of the shopping experience.
Building momentum
Building on the success of its feasibility study, GoUnpackaged secured further funding in 2021 as one of SSPP’s Large-Scale Demonstrator projects to build The Refill Coalition and bring the reusable vessels to market. Two trials with Aldi UK and Ocado Retail Ltd provided opportunities for GoUnpackaged to further refine its approach and prove the feasibility and appetite for its reuse solutions.
The reusable vessels are optimised for both the supply chain and retail environment
The reusable vessels are optimised for both the supply chain and retail environment
The Aldi trial, which took place at the Solihull and Leamington Spa locations, implemented the in-store refill solution over 16 and 12 months, respectively. The system was well-received by customers, with refills consistently accounting for 30% of sales for most products, and in some cases reaching up to 50%. Customer research also revealed elevated levels of satisfaction with the system’s hygiene (96%), speed (93%), and ease of use (89%), addressing key challenges from previous refill solutions[i].
Meanwhile, Ocado is trialling the returnables solution for online shopping, targeting both dry goods and household liquid products. The results successfully reinforce the system’s potential for broader adoption. Volume performance has also exceeded expectations, with sales three times higher than anticipated. Customer feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with ratings of 4.9 (out of 5) stars for pasta and 4.7 stars (out of 5) for rice.
Crucially, the return rate for reusable containers to Ocado steadily increased week by week, highlighting the system’s effectiveness in fostering sustainable consumer habits.
“SSPP funding enabled us to fine-tune our processes. Without their support, we would not have been able to build The Refill Coalition and bring these two innovative reuse solutions to market.”
Catherine Conway, founder and director of GoUnpackaged
“Both solutions required testing and learning before we went live, such as the customer flow on the Aldi in-store weighing scale or developing Ocado containers that are aesthetically pleasing enough for consumers to use, but unappealing enough for them to want to return! These are the kinds of details that make all the difference.”
Together, the trials represent two completely new fully circular solutions for in-store refill and online consumer returnables that have helped solve a range of commercial problems through standardised, optimised, and replicable processes.
Paving the way for wider adoption
GoUnpackaged is now turning to address issues preventing wider adoption of reuse and refill. Supported by SSPP, GoUnpackaged has recently initiated additional research into the necessary infrastructure to support the implementation of widescale reuse systems. This work aims to understand the scale of change necessary and accelerate the adoption of reusable systems, providing a clear roadmap for advancing sustainable packaging solutions across the retail industry.
[1] Opinium Quantitative Survey, Feb ‘24 & Nov ‘24, Aldi shoppers
Case study 8 Impact Recycling
A world-first solution to sort post-consumer mixed films and flexible plastic packaging waste to produce high purity materials that can be recycled back into new plastic packaging.
Films and flexible plastic packaging represent nearly a quarter of UK post-consumer plastic packaging waste, but estimates suggest that less than 10% is currently recycled and the remainder is sent to landfill or for incineration. One of the reasons for this is that flexible packaging is made up of a combination of multi- and mono-layer plastics, which are challenging to separate for high quality recycling.
To address this, UKRI’s Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging (SSPP) Challenge, delivered by Innovate UK, has provided funding to Impact Recycling to develop the innovative BOSS (Baffled Oscillation Separation System) 2D technology that can take mixed flexible plastic packaging waste and separate out the mono-layer polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) films from the multi-layer films. By separating the two waste streams to 95% purity, BOSS-2D can deliver high purity PE and PP material streams for recycling back into new plastic packaging.
The BOSS technology works by harnessing the fluid dynamics of water and using oscillation to create specific flow patterns that separate different polymers based on their relative density and drag characteristics. It exploits the fact that different polymers move through water differently, not unlike pebbles arranged on a beach by waves that push the lighter stones further ashore.
Game-changing technology
Impact Recycling initially developed the concept as the BOSS-3D technology, which separates mixed rigid plastic waste into polymers of different densities. BOSS-2D takes the technology further by specifically separating post-consumer mixed flexible plastic packaging and providing the market with the opportunity to increase the recycling of this difficult waste stream.
“BOSS-2D is a gamechanger for the recycling industry,” explains David Walsh CEO of Impact Recycling. “Its ability to mechanically separate films and flexibles to a high level of purity provides a world-first, scalable, drop-in solution to recycling this notoriously problematic waste stream.”
Vital support
The SSPP Challenge first supported the development of the BOSS-2D technology in 2020 through its Feasibility Studies for Demonstrators competition. The funding supported the development of the concept at pre-commercial scale and this pilot demonstrated that BOSS-2D technology could separate individual monolayer plastics at an unprecedented 95% purity.
“The key to recycling is producing a pure product that can be reused in as many different ways as possible. The level of purity that we can achieve with BOSS-2D technology means our recyclate can replace virgin feedstock in a range of products and contribute to government and corporate recycling targets.”
David Walsh, CEO, Impact Recycling
Impact Recycling was then established to commercialise these positive results, and in 2021, it received further funding of £4.1 million as one of SSPP’s Large-Scale Demonstrator projects. This has enabled the company to develop a commercial-scale BOSS-2D demonstrator plant in North East England which is due to open in 2025. At full capacity, the plant will process 25,000 tonnes/year, over double the amount of plastic film collected for recycling in the UK in 2019.
The plant will benefit stakeholders across the plastics value chain. For example, by enabling high-quality separation and recycling of mono-layer films, it will help local authorities and waste management companies to meet the new UK government requirements for collecting and recycling post-consumer films and flexible plastics that are due to come into effect in the coming years.
By supporting higher levels of recycling, the BOSS technology also helps to deliver carbon savings - the process significantly reduces CO₂ emissions compared to the manufacture of virgin plastic and all forms of disposal including landfill and incineration. The facility will also incorporate a water recirculation system to reduce water consumption and prevent microplastics entering the environment.
Exciting potential
In helping to prove the feasibility and scalability of the BOSS-2D process, SSPP has also provided confidence in the technology to other investors and in 2023 Impact Recycling received a £7 million loan from Nestlé UK & Ireland to help develop and scale up the process. The BOSS-2D technology is set to be critical to Nestlé’s goal of making more than 95% of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025 and will be similarly advantageous to other manufacturers and retailers. Impact Recycling also received support from the Ecosurety Exploration Fund in 2020.
“SSPP has been instrumental in helping us to verify the efficacy of BOSS-2D and prove that it could be scaled to process large quantities of plastic waste. As a start-up, you cannot always investigate promising avenues of research, even if you are confident in their potential. SSPP gave us the backing we needed to explore new ways of approaching the mixed flexible plastic packaging problem,” says David Walsh.
Further information
Visit Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging at UKRI for more information on the Challenge and the projects it is funding.
Go to the UK Circular Plastics Network to join a dynamic and growing community interested in making plastics more sustainable.
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