Case Studies

Leveraging our supplier relationships as a solution to the UK’s Plastic Packaging tax.

Challenge

The UK’s Plastic Packaging Tax which came into force on 1st April 2022 represents a problem for many UK businesses. If you pay the tax, it will increase your costs or it will need to be passed on to customers, which may make your product less competitive. Or to avoid paying the tax, you’ll need to ensure your packaging complies with being at least 30% recycled plastic. As experts in sustainability, we know this is not easy to do, or easy to prove. In fact, due to the naked eye being unable to detect the level of recycled plastic in a product, sadly this law could be subject to greenwashing or misleading practice.

We know many businesses want to comply with the law and bring down the level of non-recycled plastic in their packaging and avoid the need to pay this tax. So, when Lewisham Council approached us to help them achieve sustainable bin liners, we rose to the challenge.

Action

Two of our biggest assets at Marke are our deep knowledge of sustainable production processes, and the relationship we have with our suppliers. Combined, this enables us to work closely with suppliers, to establish, audit, meet, and then certify sustainable processes and supply chains.

In this case, we worked with our supplier to create a declaration form and a visible, traceable supply chain where they applied for GRS certification meaning we could manage the full chain of custody, just as we do with recycled garments.
 

Impact

This proactivity and problem solving enabled our client to secure sustainable bin liners, and avoid the tax charge, because they had the full certification. We now have a model and a process to help other businesses with this as well, to use more sustainable plastic packaging which is so important for the planet, to meet their sustainability goals, and to avoid the additional burden of the plastic tax.