The three steps businesses need to take for sustainable packaging savings

Formulating your sustainable future for packaging requires a strategic approach that will balance the environmental and commercial factors involved. Whilst there may be some short-term investment required to make this transition, Roger Wright, Waste Strategy & Packaging Manager for sustainable waste management company Biffa, urges businesses to lean into the long-term benefits and cost control that can be achieved as a result.

It’s now more important than ever for businesses to consider how their packaging contributes to their commercial and sustainable performance. With Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), the upcoming waste management policy for packaging, set to hold businesses financially accountable for the packaging materials they bring to the UK market, it’s hard not to see cost saving strategies and sustainable goals as contrasting objectives.

According to a new survey by Biffa in partnership with YouGov, more than one in three (36%) businesses state ‘cost’ as their biggest barrier to sustainability. But this doesn’t have to be the case. By implementing a simple three-step strategy in packaging optimisation, your savings and sustainability goals can work in harmony and not in opposition.

Step One: Classify

Firstly, businesses must make sure they properly classify and understand their packaging’s life cycle. Biffa’s survey found that 47% of the materials responders listed in the ‘Other waste’ category could be collected as Dry Mixed Recycling. Understanding the waste packaging creates is key to unlocking its reusable and cost-saving potential. EPR regulations will offer businesses a much-needed framework for data gathering.

Under EPR, producers or brand owners will be legally obligated to take financial responsibility for the collection, recycling, and proper disposal of any materials they place on the market. The new rules aim to inspire a more transparent approach by creating accountability for those materials, as outlined in our Practical Guide to EPR.

Whilst EPR fees have been delayed to October 2025, the policy mandating packaging data collection hasn’t, and how businesses categorise and collect data on their packaging in the future will therefore be defined within the framework of EPR.

The most significant benefit for any sector adapting to these requirements will flow from what the data reveals. In our experience, great data can show where businesses can have the most impact, both commercially and reputationally. From this comes further opportunities to amplify the good and design out the bad.

Step Two: Simplify

Next is applying the data to improve packaging’s sustainability. This is not necessarily as easy as switching to a more recyclable packaging material; these could counteract cost savings by being heavier or harder to source, or not  fit for purpose. In a policy environment with many unanswered questions, businesses face the dilemma of improving the sustainability of what they already have vs creating something new from scratch.

Our philosophy, and the solution, are simple: the best waste is the waste you don’t create. Simplification is as much about stripping away unnecessary packaging as it is about making it widely recyclable. Trimming down the volume of unnecessary packaging a business creates within its different packaging levels is an effective place to start.

Right-sizing the primary and secondary packaging involves selecting the appropriate dimensions for the packaged product and minimising empty space to match the product's size: the less space that’s needed, the greater the cost saving.

Supply chain efficiency can contribute to cost mitigation by implementing transit and tertiary packaging designs that are stackable, nestable and reduce logistical costs like storage and transportation. Efficient packaging designs can also minimise damage during transportation, reducing product replacement costs.

Finally, look to reduce primary packaging with complex multiple layers or combinations of material that can be challenging to recycle for the end user. Optimising packaging in this way to make it easier to separate means it is more likely to be recycled correctly and responsibly.

Sustainable packaging focuses on using materials with a lower environmental impact. Using recycled or recyclable materials can help reduce the volume of raw materials needed for production over time, trimming the associated costs. Meanwhile harmonisation – squeezing even more incremental value from the packaging when it enters waste management – can enhance this process even further.

Step Three: Butterfly

A circular economy for packaging requires businesses to recognise and account for how their packaging interacts with the wider world. Where materials come from, and how well they can be recovered or disposed of, plays a huge part in curbing the carbon cost of the packaging sector and the financial burden of inaction.

To make this a reality, we must look to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Circular Economy principles – also known as the Butterfly Diagram, which depicts a non-linear system explaining exactly how a circular economy should work. It prioritises inputs from renewable sources and loops of use and consumption wherever possible, reducing the amount of materials we dispose of and never letting them leak into the environment.

Circular sustainable packaging therefore must consider the potential for reuse or a return to nature. Packaging designs that allow for this or have secondary functions beyond product containment promote a circular approach. Businesses can use materials that are widely accepted by recycling facilities, and are easy to separate.  Providing clear recycling instructions via packaging labels will also help end users to ensure the packaging is recycled

A good example of this  is milk bottle packaging, which was optimised in the switch from glass to HDPE plastic, making the packaging strong, lightweight and fully recyclable. The more recent switch to clear caps harmonised the change, generating a higher yield of recycled polymers for future packaging products.

If businesses build on the circular success stories of other products, challenge the role of packaging and find formats and materials that make them truly circular, then a cost-saving sustainable future is possible.