What was The UK Plastics Pact?
Eight years of progress and transformation
The UK Plastics Pact brought together over 200 businesses from across the entire plastics value chain with UK governments and NGOs to tackle the scourge of plastic waste. Creating a circular economy for plastics, capturing their value by keeping them in the economy and out of the natural environment.
Pact members strived to eliminate problematic plastics reducing the total amount of packaging on supermarket shelves, stimulate innovation and new business models and help build a stronger recycling system in the UK. Also ensuring that plastic packaging is designed so it can be easily recycled and made into new products and packaging and, with the support of governments, ensure consistent UK recycling is met.
The UK Plastics Pact, led by WRAP, was a world-first initiative that inspired a global network of Plastics Pacts now operating across every continent.
The UK Plastics Pact Legacy: 2018-2025
The Plastics Pact Knowledge Hub
Eight years of evidence, insights and tools for circular plastics
The UK Plastics Pact built a powerful body of knowledge to help transform how plastic packaging is designed, used and recycled.
We have brought highlights of all the work together in this Knowledge Hub as a testament to that collective effort.
It brings together the evidence, insights and practical resources generated through the Pact’s collaborative work across the plastics value chain, providing a single place where this the legacy work can be accessed and applied.
Download the Knowledge Hub reportFrom plastics to packaging: The next chapter begins
The UK Plastics Pact has laid the foundations for system-wide transformation.
Now, the UK Packaging Pact will take this further - tackling the barriers that prevent circularity today and accelerating progress across the entire packaging system.
System change is not a single moment; it is a journey. There is still further to go.
The Plastics Pact Network
A network of 13 Plastics Pacts across every continent, working together to fix the broken plastics system through shared learning and coordinated action.
Priority action areas
To achieve The UK Plastics Pact targets members addressed some critical challenge areas, working in collaboration with the plastics value chain.
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Plastic bags and wrapping
This material makes up nearly a quarter of consumer packaging, yet only 6% is recycled.
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Reuse and refill
Kicking our plastics habit and changing the way we shop is key to a circular economy for plastics.
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Eliminating Problem plastics
Eliminating problem plastics and only using plastic packaging where necessary, is at the heart of our work.
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Designing for recyclability
Use our guidance to design best in class plastic packaging.
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Citizen behaviour change
Hard hitting campaigns, world leading citizen research and insight are transforming recycling behaviours in the UK.