Future of Plastic Packaging | Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL)

In 2018 CISL convened the Eliminating Plastic Packaging Waste Working Group, an industry-led working group that brought together members from the natural source water and soft drinks value chain. The companies sought to set out an ambitious vision and roadmap towards eliminating plastic packaging waste from the UK natural source water and soft drinks value chain.

As a result, the report, Towards sustainable packaging: A plan to eliminate plastic packaging waste from UK bottled water and soft drinks, was published by CISL in September 2018. While the urge to search for quick fixes may be strong, the report recognised the complexities of the plastics challenge and the need to avoid unintended consequences. It also recognised that while government and business are already starting to address the issue, there is still a need to set ambitious goals to push the sector and create a transformational shift to eliminate plastic packaging waste.

During 2019, CISL continued to work with the natural source water and soft drinks value chain to take forward the recommendations from the report, completing a further piece of work in one area of interest.

CISL undertook a scoping exercise, including desk research and a workshop, to examine the relative impact of natural source water and soft drinks packaging materials based on the data currently available. The resulting report summarises the findings and makes recommendations to support business packaging material decision-making in the natural source water and soft drinks sector.