Priory Direct · 8 May 2026 · 5 min read

Two weeks on from its 22 April launch at Sustainable Ventures in London, the picture of how the UK Packaging Pact will operate is now clear. Signatory numbers grew from 55 to 100, every major UK retailer has committed, and the first-year workstreams have been published. Here's what's confirmed — and what it means for buyers navigating EPR.

Contents

From preview to launch: what changed
The 100 founding signatories
Year-one priorities
Why launch now
What buyers should do next
Sources

From preview to launch: what changed

When WRAP first announced the Pact in November 2025, 55 organisations had committed. The headline figure on launch day was nearly double that. WRAP CEO Catherine David formally opened the ten-year programme on 21 April, with industry, government and waste-sector leaders attending.

The shift in scope confirmed at launch is significant. Where the previous UK Plastics Pact (2018–2025) targeted plastic packaging in food and drink, the UK Packaging Pact covers all packaging materials — glass, paper, card, metal, plastics and bio-based — across all consumer sectors, including beauty care, pet products and household goods.

"The UK Packaging Pact is a unique, complete system approach to unlocking packaging transitions across the value chain. No other programme brings together the key players needed to deliver the enormous changes we must make."
Catherine David · CEO, WRAP

The 100 founding signatories

The signatory list confirms the Pact's whole-value-chain remit. Among the 100 founding members:

Major retailers: Tesco, Sainsbury's, ASDA, Aldi, Lidl GB, Co-op, Marks & Spencer, Ocado Retail
Brands & FMCG: Unilever UK & Ireland, Danone UK, Innocent Drinks, Haleon, Müller, Hilton Food Group, William Jackson Food Group
Waste & recycling: Biffa, SUEZ Recycling and Recovery UK, Valpak, Charpak, Faerch UK
Government & sector bodies: Defra, DAERA, PackUK, British Retail Consortium, Food and Drink Federation, British Glass, British Plastics Federation, Confederation of Paper Industries, OPRL, CTPA, BBPA

For context: this is the first time every "big four" supermarket, the main packaging trade bodies, and Defra have signed up to a single voluntary packaging programme.

By the numbers

100

founding signatories on launch day

year programme running to 2035

99.9%

of problematic plastic items eliminated under the previous Pact

Year-one priorities

WRAP has confirmed the workstreams for the Pact's first year, beyond establishing governance:

Identifying material-reduction opportunities and increasing recycled content across packaging portfolios
Providing evidence to inform the evolution of the Recyclability Assessment Methodology (RAM) used by packaging EPR
Tackling the persistent challenge of non-recyclable multi-material films
Policy advice on mechanisms to incentivise reuse and direct investment into UK recycling infrastructure
Developing a vision for harmonised data reporting to reduce business compliance burden

"PackUK is pleased to support the UK Packaging Pact. This ambitious initiative represents the collaborative approach we need to drive real, lasting change. No single organisation can solve the packaging challenge alone."
Jeremy Blake · Chief Executive Officer, PackUK

Why launch now

The launch landed at a deliberately pointed moment. Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) fees went live in October 2025. From January 2026, the RAM red/amber/green rating system began modulating those fees, rewarding recyclable formats and penalising harder-to-recycle ones. The plastic packaging tax rate also rose to £228.82 per tonne in April 2026 for plastic packaging without at least 30% recycled content.

At the same time, oil-price volatility — driven in part by ongoing Middle East disruption — is making virgin plastic input costs less predictable. WRAP positioned the Pact as a route to help signatories manage that combination of regulatory and commercial pressure through pre-competitive collaboration: shared infrastructure planning, common data standards, and reuse systems that work across retailers rather than in isolated brand-by-brand pilots.

What buyers should do next

You don't need to be a Pact signatory to feel its effects. The Pact's outputs will shape the regulations buyers operate under — and the standards retailers expect from their suppliers. Three practical next steps:

1. Audit your packaging against RAM criteria

Categorise current SKUs as red, amber or green under the Recyclability Assessment Methodology. Mono-material cardboard and paper formats typically rate green; mixed-material laminates rate red.

2. Track signatory commitments if you supply major retailers

Tesco, Sainsbury's, ASDA, Lidl, Aldi, M&S, Co-op and Ocado are all signatories. Their internal targets will cascade into supplier specifications over the next 12–24 months.

3. Switch to FSC-certified, recyclable-by-default formats where viable

For e-commerce and B2B despatch, cardboard cartons, paper void fill and paper tape sit in the green RAM band. The cost of switching is increasingly offset by lower EPR fees.

4. Build reporting capability now, not in 2027

2026 calendar-year packaging data is due to PackUK by 1 April 2027. Data harmonisation is one of the Pact's four goals, so reporting requirements will only get more granular.

Sources