UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has invested almost £2 million in 14 projects to address ‘consumer problems with plastic packaging’.
Awarded funding through the Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging challenge, these projects will set out to develop ‘better options for future plastic packaging whether you’re in the kitchen, the bathroom or on the move’, UKRI says.
To date, the challenge has invested over £30 million for innovation in smart and sustainable plastic packaging for consumer products.
Projects include a number of new biobased, high-performance polymers which have the potential to replace the current oil-based plastic packaging materials in multiple applications for everyday consumer products.
This fund is helping to create new packaging materials that are less harmful to the planet, as well as packaging for products that can either be refilled or easily recycled at home
Funding will also help prototype new cleaning product ranges in reusable and refillable packaging, which when disposed of, will create significantly lower CO2 emissions than single-use alternatives.
Environment Minister Rebecca Pow said: “People want to be able to buy products that are better for the environment and use less plastic. This fund is helping to create new packaging materials that are less harmful to the planet, as well as packaging for products that can either be refilled or easily recycled at home.
“This innovation will help us reach our goal of eliminating all avoidable plastic waste by 2024 and builds on our landmark Environment Bill which will let us introduce deposit return schemes for plastic drinks containers and make companies more responsible for the packaging they produce.”
Project summaries
Loopy Products Ltd
Recently featured on Dragons Den for their eco cleaning products, Loopy Products Ltd is set to develop a formula for the first-ever tableted dish soap. It would replace the 500ml dish soap plastic bottles and instead, be dissolved by the consumer at home.
Central Pharma Contract Packaging Limited
A project led by Central Pharma Contract Packaging Limited will create a circular system enabling 100% of medicine blister packs to be recyclable with convenient public drop-off points.
The Ocean Bottle Ltd
The Ocean Bottle Ltd, which created reusable bottles made from ocean-bound, recyclable Bisphenol A (BPA)-free plastic, will design and test the first ever customer loyalty platform that incentives refills, using guaranteed plastics collection.
Improving public information
Funding also goes to some of the UK’s most active not-for-profit organisations working to improve public information and resources to implement reuse and refill.
WRAP aims to improve our understanding of how to make refill solutions work for the ‘big weekly shop’, including the full journey from home to store.
Projects led by OPRL and Recoup will deliver solutions, such as effective labelling systems and communications strategies. These will set out to make it easier for the public to know how and where to properly recycle their plastic packaging.
Recoup will be working with 13 Kent councils and around 1.5 million residents to evaluate the understanding and effectiveness of communications related to recycling.
A change in our behaviour will be the driving point for this change in moving from single-use plastics to reuse, refill and recyclable solutions
The 14 projects will engage with an extensive network of stakeholders from the plastic packaging value chain to develop solutions for the complete plastic packaging lifecycle, including production, design, recycling and reuse.
These projects will bring together some of the UK’s most pioneering start-ups with our largest consumer brands, and highly respected organisations seeking to shift attitudes and behaviours towards plastic waste.
Paul Davidson, Challenge Director for the Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging challenge, said: “We are funding some really smart innovations for consumer packaging. When these projects move into the distribution phase, we are going to see some big changes in how we shop, our experiences with food packaging and what we understand to be plastic packaging.
“A change in our behaviour will be the driving point for this change in moving from single-use plastics to reuse, refill and recyclable solutions.”
