Ahead of the official launch of the UK Packaging Pact in April 2026, WRAP has announced the names of the 55 founding organisations who’ve already signed up to the ten-year Pact to bring sweeping changes across all packaging materials.
Supported by PackUK, UK Government, and led by global environmental action NGO WRAP, the UK Packaging Pact will transform how packaging is designed, used, and recovered to reduce waste and emissions, better protect nature and put citizens needs at the heart of packaging decisions.
The successor to the UK Plastics Pact, the new voluntary agreement widens the focus to all materials commonly used in packaging, and the range of sectors involved in the new programme. Now organisations producing products from food and drink, beauty care, pet products and household goods can join and transform packaging to optimise its use, expand reusability and fully integrate packaging into the circular economy.
Catherine David, CEO, WRAP, said: “Collaboration works and it’s delivering real change. Unrecyclable black plastic is gone, recycling is rising, and unnecessary packaging is disappearing. But the scale of the challenge demands more.
“Plastic pollution remains a global crisis, and with the failure to secure a global treaty, the need for bold, systemic action has never been greater. We must accelerate the step change to circular living, driving reuse, tackling plastic film, and enabling the impact of upcoming recycling reforms. This is collective action at its most ambitious and essential, and WRAP is proud to lead the charge toward a truly circular future.”
Ahead of its 2026 launch, 55 founding members have signed up including household names such as ASDA, Arla, Haleon, Lidl, Ocado Retail, Tesco, and Yeo Valley, sustainability pioneers GoUnpackaged and PackUK, and major waste management companies Biffa, SUEZ Recycling Recovery UK Ltd and Veolia.
With its whole value chain approach, the UK Packaging Pact will bring together academics, SMEs, innovators, leading retailers, FMCG brands, and recyclers for a whole system approach to revolutionise packaging in the UK and influence global markets. WRAP is in talks with many major brands, retailers and manufacturers across multiple sectors ahead of April.
The new UK Packaging Pact builds on the UK Plastics Pact, launched by WRAP in 2018 and which is nearing its end. The UK Packaging Pact will go beyond just plastics and food and drink packaging to address all packaging materials, accelerating the UK’s transition to a circular economy through four ambitious, interconnected goals, to: optimise packaging, scale reuse and refill, support circular infrastructure investment, and harmonise data – to improve traceability for more impactful decision making.
The UK Packaging Pact intends to fill the supermarket of 2035 with products in minimal, efficient packaging designed for reuse and remove single-use packaging from our everyday waste stream. It will usher in more widely used easily recyclable packaging, with reduced carbon. And it will continue to act to eliminate problematic and unnecessary packaging items.
Behind the scenes, harmonised data systems and investment in circular infrastructure will ensure that everything citizens buy is made with the environment in mind and can be recovered and reused, never wasted.
As major reforms including packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), Simpler Recycling, and Deposit Return Schemes move into implementation, the UK Packaging Pact will assist businesses and serve as a test-bed for implementation and a feedback mechanism for future regulation.
Founding Members of the UK Packaging Pact:
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