Government Legislation

Our dedicated sustainability team collaborates with industry bodies, like the Foodservice Packaging Association (FPA), and attends Government forums and workshops, to ensure they are fully informed on current and future Government legislation that affects the hospitality industry. Expertise is shared with our customers via a number of communication initiatives, including regular ‘Sustainable Future’ customer forums, simple and informative factsheets, the quarterly ‘Purchasing Insight’ newsletter, and a full report produced annually.

In 2023, we worked closely with DEFRA, compliance partners, and other industry bodies, to understand the requirements of EPR and how it will affect our customers and our own obligations. Critically, we engaged our customers early on, providing expert-led forums and factsheets, in addition to customer specific presentations. We will continue to review and communicate EPR amendments and future phases, such as fee modulations and EPR labelling.

Giving our account teams and customers an overview of an increasingly complex legislative landscape, our ‘Sustainable Future Material Footprint Tool’ has been assisting customers in understanding evolving regulatory environments, ensure compliance and avoiding waste since 2019 when the first bans and restrictions to the supply of single-use plastic products were announced by the UK Government. In 2023, the division ran over 60 Material Footprint Reports for its customers, reviewing 1000’s of products and materials against their risk of legislative impact, including any banned materials and the Plastic Packaging Tax.