UKRI Announces £2 Million Investment Into Plastic Packaging Development

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has announced that it will commit almost £2 million into developing sustainable solutions within plastic packaging, as part of the Future Plastic Packaging Solutions Fund.

The fund’s aim is to develop “new business models for reuse and refill” in plastic packaging.

The research includes prototyping new ranges of reusable and refillable packaging, which is hoped to produce lower carbon dioxide emissions than single-use packaging, along with biobased polymers with the potential to replace current plastic packaging materials.

Funding comes through the Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging (SSPP) Challenge, which has already donated over £30 million to supporting innovation in plastic packaging.

Paul Davidson, the SSPP’s director, stated, “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.”

Meanwhile, Environment Minister Rebecca Pow commented, “People want to be able to buy products that are better for the environment and use less plastic.

“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.”