RECOUP Awards entry deadline only 1 month away!

With only 1 month left to enter the prestigious RECOUP Awards 2025, RECOUP, the leading independent authority and trusted voice on plastics resource efficiency and recycling, is urging all organisations and individuals in the plastics value chain to submit their entries before the deadline on 27 June. The awards are FREE to enter with entries welcome from all relevant organisations and individuals looking to be recognised for their work and initiatives under the following award categories:

• Plastics Industry Champion – Recognises an individuals’ achievements in the plastics industry, particularly in relation to recycling and resource efficiency measures.
• Plastics Circularity Project of the Year – Spotlights innovative and forward-thinking initiatives that significantly contribute to the industry’s ability to drive meaningful change for the plastics circular economy.
• Best Innovation in Equipment or Technology – This award will be presented to the business or organisation which can show how it has developed a new (or evolved an existing) technology or piece of equipment to improve the collection, sorting, reprocessing or re-use of plastics.
• Best Plastic Product Development for Recyclability or Re-Use – Aims to raise awareness and showcase the latest packaging and product innovations and designs that improve or encourage recyclability or re-use.
• Recycled Plastic Product of the Year – Showcases new product innovations and designs for plastic packaging or products containing recycled content.

Beyondly, sponsors of the 2025 RECOUP Awards & Dinner,commented “Beyondly are delighted to be sponsoring the RECOUP Awards and the role they play in fostering a more sustainable and circular plastics value chain and celebrating excellence in resource efficiency.

The organisations and individuals entering these awards are demonstrating a strong commitment to innovation, sustainability, and leadership within the plastics industry. The awards are a fantastic opportunity to showcase impactful achievements such as pioneering recycling and resource efficiency efforts, advancing the circular economy through groundbreaking projects, and developing new or improved technologies and equipment that enhance plastic collection, sorting, reprocessing, and reuse.

We are honoured to support RECOUP’s important mission in celebrating innovative and inspiring initiatives that are advancing plastic circularity and contributing to a more sustainable future. We wish every entrant the very best of luck! “

The awards will be presented at the RECOUP Awards & Pre-conference Networking Dinner on Wednesday 24 September 2025, at the Holiday Inn, Peterborough West and will recognise and celebrate the innovative and inspiring projects, products and initiatives that have helped to drive the circularity of plastics for a more sustainable future. To apply for the awards and book your ticket to the celebration dinner, please visit the RECOUP website. If you have any questions or require further information, please do not hesitate to contact RECOUP at enquiry@recoup.org .

Suntory Beverage & Food GB&I invests £6m in sustainability makeover for Lucozade Energy

New bottle design will save 956 tonnes of plastic annually, enhance recyclability and support the circular economy.

14th May 2025, Coleford, UK: Lucozade producer Suntory Beverage & Food GB&I (SBF GB&I) has invested £6.3 million in a major packaging redesign for Lucozade Energy bottles, significantly reducing plastic use and supporting the efficient recycling of its bottles.

Lucozade Energy bottles will now feature a half sleeve that covers just 50% of the bottle height compared to previous full-length sleeves. This results in a 60% reduction in the total sleeve weight, removing 956 tonnes of new plastic per year. The changes also reduce water use during production, equivalent to an Olympic-sized swimming pool every 289 days.

The project involved installing new sleeves with the latest technology across three different production lines in SBF GB&I’s factory in Coleford. The work took a collective 470 working days, delivered in only six weeks.

Karl Ottomar, Supply Chain Director, SBF GB&I, comments: “As one of the biggest energy brands in the UK, producing over 3,000 bottles of Lucozade Energy per minute, this has been a complex and large-scale change for our factory. While reducing a drink’s sleeve size may sound simple, it has required a full redesign of the bottle and complete change in componentry on our production lines. The team have dedicated thousands of hours to plan and then successfully implement the changes on our lines and I’m so proud of their incredible commitment to this project and helping us meet our sustainability goals.”

Fraser McIntosh, Head of External Affairs and Sustainability, SBF GB&I comments: “This change marks a significant step forward in our journey towards achieving 100% sustainable plastic packaging across our portfolio by 2030. At a time when we face increasing cost pressures as a business, we continue to prioritise sustainability, demonstrating our company value of Growing for Good. It’s another major investment in our factory, helping to build a sustainable future for our brands and the home where they are made.”

The changes are also important for the recyclability of Lucozade Energy bottles as the reduced sleeve continues to support bottle to bottle recycling. It ensures the bottle can be sorted into the clear plastics stream at recycling facilities allowing it to be recovered to create new bottles again.

Paul East, Head of Packaging Recycling and Design at RECOUP endorses the move: “RECOUP are proud to have been part of the journey to redesign the Lucozade Energy bottle. This new design meets recyclability guidelines, meaning the bottles can be easily sorted at recycling centres and reduces the amount of overall plastic produced. The next step is to encourage more consumers to dispose of the bottles correctly, in the certainty that the bottle will be detected and recycled.”

This latest project is not only important for SBF GB&I’s sustainable packaging commitments but also its emission reduction targets and journey to net zero. Packaging accounts for 15.5% of the company’s Scope 3 emissions and a removal of 956 tonnes of plastic a year helps towards its goal of reducing these emissions by 30% by 2030.

The packaging evolution for Lucozade Energy follows similar changes to the sleeve length made to Ribena bottles in 2020 and Lucozade Sport in 2021. SBF GB&I has invested a total of £11.3m over five years to support the development of its sustainable packaging as it collaborates with industry to achieve a circular economy for plastics, work that includes advocating for and delivering a DRS in the UK by October 2027.

The new Lucozade Energy bottles will also feature a new ergonomic embossed design showcasing Lucozade’s iconic “Arc” logo, enhancing both brand recognition and bottle texture. The new bottles are now rolling out in store.

The RECOUP Summit – A Resounding Success

The inaugural RECOUP Summit, sponsored by WRAP and Ecosurety, held on the 30 April in Leeds, was a resounding success. It reconfirmed the need for more innovation and collaboration with industry and government support to ensure we deliver on the promise of a plastic circular economy. Focused on developments in technology that will help to drive improvements in the plastics recycling and resource efficiency value chain, the event hosted attendees from across the plastics value chain with an exciting line up of speakers based across focused breakout rooms in the morning and a collaborative session in the afternoon.

The morning kicked off with a focused session on advanced recycling technologies, where speakers including Geoff Brighty from Mura Technology,  Emmeline Aves of ReVentas, and Sam Pine from Greyparrot, shared tangible examples of innovation transforming the sector and facilitating the circular economy. Hearing about a variety of available solutions including low carbon dissolution recycling, scalable chemical recycling approaches and AI-based waste intelligence tools the message was clear: technology is available now – but its deployment depends on supportive infrastructure, policy alignment, and commercial investment.

Another breakout session zeroed in on food contact packaging, exploring how innovation is enhancing recycled content in high end applications. Speakers for this session included Jeremy Blake from Amcor, David Bargery from Regis Machinery, and Paul Marshall from Nextek, who highlighted the industry’s regulatory, legislative, and cost hurdles. The session honed in on solutions for producing food grade recycled polypropylene (PP), the removal of contaminants from recycled materials and solutions for converting films back into food-grade material.. This session made it clear that with the right technologies and collaborative effort, we can break down existing barriers taking higher levels of food contact recycled content from aspiration to reality.

In the final breakout session, the conversation turned to the role of data in the circular economy  – its power, its gaps, and its role in delivering a true circular economy. Sophie Walker from Dsposal, Rachel Warren from Re-universe, and Will Addy from Polytag, came together to highlight the need for good data, stressing how upcoming legislation and new targets require data from the sector to benchmark delivery and progress. It was very apparent throughout the session that inefficient data gathering systems and inaccurate data can hamper progress, however, with effective and accurate data we can make better and more informed choices that play a huge role in delivering a circular economy for plastics and packaging materials.

The day culminated in a dynamic collaborative session led by Robbie Staniforth (Ecosurety), where panellists including Liz Wildman (MARS), Steve Walsh (TOMRA), James Donaldson (Sortology), Angela Doyle (Robinson Packaging), and Paul Mayhew (MBA Polymers). The panel tackled some of the sector’s thorniest issues: infrastructure gaps, technical limitations, greenwashing, and the reality of consumer engagement. The panel called for smarter packaging design, investment into system resilience, and the need to make recycled plastics commercially viable. However, it was also noted that real progress requires more than individual action, reinforcing the importance of joined-up action across industry, government, and innovators, backed by clear policy signals, targeted funding, and infrastructure investment. If we come together to bridge gaps and technical challenges across industry we can allow the plastic circular economy to flourish.

The RECOUP Summit underscored the critical need for aligned innovation, policy, and investment to drive meaningful progress in plastics recycling and the circular economy. By bringing together voices from across the value chain, the event not only highlighted current challenges but also showcased tangible solutions already shaping the future. As collaboration deepens between stakeholders, and with continued support from government and industry alike, we move closer to realising a truly circular and sustainable system for plastics.

Recyclability Assessment Methodology

Recyclability Assessment Methodology (RAM) – Introduction

The Recyclability Assessment Methodology (RAM) will evaluate packaging to ensure that it can be recycled and transformed into new products. All packaging that is placed on the UK market and reported as household waste in 2025 will be reviewed using details on the RAM. From 2026, modulated fees will be applied accordingly to each packaging format.

Packaging will be rated as either green, amber or red. Green suggest that the packaging has a recognised path for collection, sorting and recycling and will have lower fees applied than less recyclable materials, which will be rated amber or red. Producers will need to report their data from October 2025 with fees being applied from 2026 onwards.

RAM v1.1  – Observations

Following work and consultations during 2024, an initial draft copy of the RAM was released in December 2024. At this point, DEFRA listened to some of the comments from RECOUP, from RECOUP members, and from other organisations.

There then followed an initial launch to trade bodies of a draft final version on 8^th April 2025, then the most recent version of the DEFRA Ram was released on 28^th April 2025. Comparing the most recent releases; no significant changes to anything in the ‘plastics’ sections, from the draft version 1.1 which we had seen, and the final 28 April version. Minor changes include the removal of the ‘boxes’ around the items marked for ‘2025 assessment’, which now form part of the main text.

However, there are more than a few outstanding queries and questions, which we have communicated to DEFRA, on the latest version.

One pressing issue is the materials or combinations which have been removed from the RAM for ‘2025 assessment’. This means that the following are now deemed acceptable: the comparison is with RECOUP Recyclability By Design guidelines (RBD) for plastic packaging recyclability:

Attached label or sleeve over 40% (bottle) 60% (PTTs) of surface area

• Amber in RBD

 PET trays with PE seal layer

• Red in RBD

 HDPE items with fillers eg. Talc, CaCO3

• Red in RBD

 Attached labels or sleeves comprised of paper

• Amber in RBD

Of the comments submitted by RECOUP following the initial ‘version 1’, we were pleased that DEFRA accepted some RECOUP recommendations, including;

–              RAM classifies any PET pot/tub/tray with anti-blocking agents as amber – rendering basically any tray manufacturers entire portfolio as amber!

RECOUP shows de-nest in Green column, Anti-block in centre column. Anti-block in the masterbatch is acceptable. We have a statement to this effect written for us by Faerch.

This instruction was removed from RAM v1.1

–              RAM states “if an item of packaging or component contains any of the following it is classified as red: attached label adhesives which are not removable in an 80°C hot wash”

This is too generalised. Protocols show different polymers react differently. For example: PET Bottles recommendation is 70°C – 90°C. For flexibles, both PP and PE, the recommendation is 40°C.

This instruction was removed from RAM v1.1

However, outstanding queries as yet unanswered by DEFRA include;

Flexible

–              Specific barrier layers (SiOx, AlOx etc.) removed from ‘red’ list. Although OK in small quantities, this omission may result in higher quantity used, which the recycling industry may find difficult to cope with. The list of barrier layers needs some research but should be re-introduced, possibly as ‘Amber’ with a note concerning maximum quantity.

–              Polyolefin film – minimum 80% PO mono- reduced from minimum 90% PO mono. “Any….. below this threshold are classified as red.” No indication of the % required for classifying as ‘green’ or classifying as ‘amber’

Rigid

–              ‘Inks that bleed’ removed. This is a fundamental of all recyclability guidelines. We are aware of new technology – washable inks – in development; is this the reason?

Conclusion

We are unsure where DEFRA obtained information to make some of the changes. This obviously did not come from the recycling industry.

RECOUP remain open to discussion with DEFRA regarding the queries above. We talk with both The BPF and OPRL regularly to ensure we are in agreement.

Recyclability Guidelines

The RAM does not replace recyclability guidelines. The RAM was written as an instrument to enable fees to be charged for packaging.

RBD is produced by talking to members; and accept the advice from recyclers on what happens now. This is what makes it different to other instruments which look at what might happen with new ‘state of the art’ equipment in a few years.

For any help or advice please contact Paul East at paul.east@recoup.org