Businesses, retailers and recyclers are invited to access funding and support through the new Flexible Plastic Fund initiative. The scheme has been set up to incentivise the recycling of flexible plastics such as bags and wrappers. The Flexible Plastic Fund is a cross-industry collaboration established in May 2021 by five founding partners: Mars, Mondelēz International, Nestlé, PepsiCo and Unilever.
The aim is to create a circular system that incentivises the recycling of flexible plastics:
- Businesses that own brands that use flexible plastic packaging invest in the fund to become partners of the Flexible Plastic Fund.
- Participating retailers hold collection points within their stores where individuals can drop off their flexi-plastics for recycling.
- The plastics are transported to approved recyclers to create new products.
- These new products generate Packaging Recovery Notes which certify that the products have been recycled.
- If the new products meet the requirements of the Flexible Plastics Fund then a payment is made to the partners in the fund.
The Fund has a pricing hierarchy where food-grade plastic film benefits from a higher price than non-packaging material. The aim is to recycle at least 80% of the plastics collected in the UK – rising to 100% by 2023.
Focus of fund/fund aims:
A new scheme to incentivise the recycling of flexible plastics in the UK.
Application deadline:
n/a