UK packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (pEPR)
Producers now pay the full net cost of collecting and managing household packaging waste under regulations in force since 1 January 2025, with plastic…
Bottles and drinks
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UK Plastic Packaging Tax
A per-tonne tax on plastic packaging containing less than 30 percent recycled content, rising with inflation each April.
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EU ban on bisphenol A (BPA) in food-contact materials (2024/3190)
Bans bisphenol A and related bisphenols in food-contact plastics, coatings, inks and adhesives; in force since January 2025, with the main prohibition binding from…
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EU Single-Use Plastics Directive (2019/904)
Bans plastic cutlery, plates, straws, stirrers, cotton buds and expanded polystyrene (foam) food containers across the EU. Bottle caps must stay attached, and bottles…
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UN Global Plastics Treaty (Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee process)
The legally binding global instrument on plastic pollution mandated by UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) Resolution 5/14 in 2022 remains unagreed after six negotiating sessions.
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Cans over PET when you must buy a drink
Aluminium cans are recycled at 75 percent globally and can be recycled forever; PET bottles are recycled far less and downcycled.
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Returnable glass milk or bigger bottles
A returnable glass bottle only beats plastic if it is returned and refilled many times; if that is not on offer, buy the largest…
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Refillable bottle instead of bottled water
A single reusable bottle used daily replaces hundreds of PET bottles a year, and its impact becomes negligible over a year of use whatever…
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Reuse and refill systems
Not a material but a system: returnable or refillable packaging that avoids single-use waste entirely, with 35 to 70 percent lower greenhouse gas (GHG)…
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Bio-PE and bio-PP drop-in plastics
Polyethylene made from sugarcane ethanol; chemically identical to fossil PE, recyclable in the same stream, and not biodegradable.