DELIVERING A CIRCULAR & SUSTAINABLE ALUMINIUM PACKAGING INDUSTRY FOR THE UK
Aluminium is the ultimate packaging material for the UK. It’s popular with household names who trust it to protect their products and enhance their brands, as well as with the public who appreciate the look and convenience of aluminium-packaged products.
The material’s best feature though is its circularity potential; the UK wants to embrace a circular economy and aluminium can be recycled again and again without losing all the features that make it such a great packaging material. Indeed, all this means that aluminium packaging is a real UK success story; the market has grown by almost 50% in the last 10 years, supporting thousands of UK manufacturing jobs.
However, the industry is facing challenges. It strives to decarbonise, comply with an ever-increasing list of regulations whilst tackling growing costs that challenge competitiveness. A critical solution to these challenges is to secure the supply of raw materials, in our case used aluminium packaging generated in the UK which can be utilised over and over again to make new products. Harnessing the circularity of aluminium is essential to ensuring the sustainability of this economic success story, and the industry needs support to make this happen.
The five themes below outline our key asks; each of the suggested measures will increase the supply of used aluminium packaging available to industry and help it to remain competitive in the face of strong economic headwinds and uncertainty.
Effective Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging (pERP) & Packaging collections Must Drive Greater Circularity & Sustainability
Effective recycling needs high volumes of high quality recyclate as a raw material; it’s the key facilitator of a circular economy. The fundamental foundations for this are easy-to-use waste collection systems that minimise contamination. Effective pEPR systems should fund the attainment of increasing recycling targets through infrastructure improvements and effective public engagement campaigns, as well as encouraging the use of the most easy-to-recycle packaging materials like aluminium.
Measures that should be adopted include:-
- Consistent & effective collection systems that prioritise material quality by
encouraging materials to be collected as separately as possible. - Ensuring the responsible pEPR authorities in the UK have the power and incentive
to invest in opportunities to improve packaging collection, sorting and recycling
infrastructure, particularly of aluminium foil and aerosols. - Close collaboration between UK pEPR bodies and industry behaviour change
experts like Alupro to drive up public trust and participation in recycling systems,
supported by clear on-pack labelling to encourage correct packaging disposal
behaviour.
UK-wide Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) Must Drive Aluminium Drinks Can Circularity
The DRS (expected launch October 2027) is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to improve drinks container collection-for-recycling rates, drive higher recyclate quality and help to tackle litter. The benefits of a well-designed DRS can also drive improvements across the entire packaging chain by ensuring this valuable collected material is utilised to its maximum environmental and economic potential, driving higher rates of ‘can-to-can’ recycling and making the most of aluminium’s best feature; to be recycled over and over again without losing any of the features that make it such a good packaging material, which is a fantastic outcome for any circular economy!
Measures that should be adopted to improve aluminium packaging circularity include:-
- Ensuring that aluminium cans collected through the UK DRS are recycled back into new drinks cans wherever possible in regional ‘can-to-can’ recycling loops,
thereby supporting the companies funding the system as well as protecting UK and European aluminium recycling jobs. - Ensuring that the DRS works as part of a mosaic of recycling solutions that tackle the UK’s high degree of ‘on-the-go’ consumption, including more recycling points for places often remote from DRS return points (e.g. parks, beaches or festivals) and comprehensive, effective public engagement campaigns that encourage people to recycle their empty cans.
UK Recycling & Economic Policy Should Prioritise Retention of Aluminium in Highest Value Applications
Aluminium can be recycled again and again without losing the qualities that make it useful as a packaging material; it’s this feature that helps to make it the most valuable material in the circular economy. Moreover, using recycled aluminium instead of new metal to make packaging reduces carbon emissions by up to 90%. For packaging, this fantastic potential can only be realised if there are incentives to keep collected waste packaging in use as new recycled packaging wherever feasible (e.g. closed-loop can- to-can recycling).
Measures that should be adopted include:-
- Setting a requirement for collectors of waste packaging to make best endeavours to
sell this material to recyclers who will turn it into new packaging-grade material. - Cultivating innovation and investment to support companies to overcome
technological or logistical obstacles to using more recycled material in
their products.
UK Circular Economy Strategies Must Recognise The Value Of Permanent Materials
Aluminium is a “permanent material”, meaning its inherent properties do not change during use or after being recycled. These materials maintain their value across multiple loops and preserve their core properties indefinitely. Materials like this should be recognised as being distinct from those who don’t share these
accordingly by circular economy strategies.
This recognition will help reduce reliance on critical raw materials, and promote closed recycling loops, while eliminating waste, minimising landfilling and the associated resources’ loss that comes with it.
Measures that should be adopted include:-
- Modulated pEPR fees that reward not only linear recyclability, but true circularity by incentivising companies to use “permanent materials” for their packaging.
UK Economic & Environmental Policy Must Support the Aluminium Value Chain to Decarbonise and Improve Competitiveness
The UK aluminium packaging market is growing, driven by increased demand from the public and businesses for more sustainable packaging solutions. This success can only be sustained if the value chain is supported by government policy that helps it to compete in a climate of growing regulatory costs and uncertainty.
In particular, the industry needs support to help it seize opportunities to rapidly decarbonise, alleviate pressures associated with high energy costs and secure the vital feedstocks of recyclable aluminium needed to power the recycling industry and feed the growth sectors of the economy with the recycled material they demand.
Measures that should be adopted include:-
- Subsidies and support to help convert intensive energy users, particularly those reliant on natural gas, to hydrogen and other renewable sources as soon as possible.
- Continuing existing, and potentially extending, energy price cost support for companies in the aluminium value chain to help improve competitiveness.
- Policies that prioritise the retention of aluminium scrap, a UK Critical Mineral, for UK businesses wherever feasible.
ABOUT ALUPRO
Alupro is the voice of the aluminium packaging value chain in the UK.
Our mission: maximise aluminium circularity.
We work with organisations across the supply chain to help the industry meet – and exceed – its recycling obligations. Together with manufacturers, reprocessors, local authorities and leading brands, we strengthen collection systems and spark lasting behaviour change through national campaigns. From can-makers to recyclers, our members span the full aluminium loop, bringing the whole industry to the table.
As the sector’s voice on policy and legislation, we guide our members, amplify their influence, and build a community with a shared purpose. Alupro membership is more than meeting recycling obligations – it’s about unlocking aluminium’s unique sustainability. From influencing government policy to running bold campaigns, our work delivers measurable results that members are proud to share.
Our projects put recycling into action:
Every Can Counts inspires people to recycle their drink cans, while MetalMatters helps millions of households recycle more metals at kerbside. We lead the UK Aerosol Recycling Initiative to tackle a perceived hard-to-recycle waste stream, and increase aluminium recycling awareness through campaigns like Learning Aluminium and Foil Friday. These projects combine national influence with practical action.
Together, we’re shaping the future of aluminium packaging recycling.
Download the PDF
