Defra Launches a Plastic Film Forum
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) hosted the first Plastic Film Forum on 2 November 2026, which RECOUP attended and will continue to be active in.
Purpose of the Forum
Following the governmental decision to delay the introduction of mandatory plastic film collection from 31 March 2027 to 1 April 2030, the Plastic Film Forum was formed to discuss the potential challenges in introducing plastic film into recycling collection streams, alongside what needs to be done to support this expansion.
Discussion points of the first Forum meeting
Prior to the Forum, Defra conducted initial stakeholder engagement regarding four key areas:
- Collections
- MRF Sorting
- Recycling Infrastructure
- End Markets and wider policy.
The Forum enabled members to provide feedback on the qualitative themes identified through this stakeholder engagement, including:
- Providing clarity and confidence on film collection.
- Ensuring viable recycling routes.
- Collecting better compositional and collection data.
- Considering the risk of contamination and how to maintain the value of existing recycling streams.
- Establishing complimentary recycling technologies.
- Considering the interaction of different policies and packaging reforms.
Proposed working groups
A working group will be established for each of the four key areas mentioned above. These working groups are expected to commence in January 2027 and will consist of nominated specialists.
The output from these working groups will be relayed to all the members of the Plastic Film Forum through regular meetings.
RECOUP will be putting itself forward for each of the working groups, and if you have views you would like us to discuss, please contact Steve Morgan (steve.morgan@recoup.org).
Actions identified for members of the Forum
Defra provided four actions for members, with a deadline for responses by 1 December 2026. These responses are to be emailed to recycling@defra.gov.uk:
- Distribute the discussions outlined in the summary notes and slides to members, and highlight any missing information or views.
- Provide details of any research project that you have been involved in, so that they can be added to the current research landscape. This can include work that is planned, in progress or complete.
- Provide feedback on the Transition Framework, with particular focus on your organisation’s views of how the Plastic Film Forum should support the implementation of film recycling.
- Nominate attendees for each of the four working groups.
The next Plastic Film Forum meeting will occur on 14 December 2026, at 3-5pm.