Unwrapped – an overdue package for our consumer society
When we wrap gifts – whether at Christmastime, or for birthdays or other celebrations – we hope they’ll be well received. For those of us in the resources and waste sector, there’s another consideration weighing on our minds.
We know only too well that most of the wrapping paper used in the UK cannot be recycled. Laminated or laden with additives like glitter, foil or plastic coatings, the mountains of single-use wrapping collected at peak times of the year must be separated from paper, cardboard and plastics to avoid disrupting recycling processes, and contaminating other recyclables.
All kinds of celebratory occasions tend to generate additional waste. In the UK, Christmas weighs in at around three million tonnes – and the discarded wrapping paper would be enough to wrap the island of Guernsey1. While food waste also increases sharply at the turn of the year, much of the additional waste comes from packaging.
Managing risks, protecting people and planet
Our waste collection and recycling teams have been extremely busy throughout the holiday and into January handling this heavy workload. As Chief Business Services Officer, ensuring they and all colleagues head home safe at the end of the working day and feel engaged as committed SUEZ employees is central to my role.
Last year I also took on responsibility for our Environmental and Industrial Risk (EIR) team. Its purpose is to support the sustainability of SUEZ recycling and recovery UK’s operations and manage the environmental and other risks associated with all activities. Every major business faces risks and has impacts that must be managed responsibly – from industrial accidents that could harm people and the environment to emissions control and pollution prevention.
For SUEZ, these and the other EIR factors – environmental nuisance, climate adaptation, and habitats and biodiversity – are intrinsic to our purpose of building a future that doesn’t cost the earth. This EIR perspective has also sharpened my own understanding of how people, planet and profit are interlinked and indivisible – and how all these considerations influence business decisions.
Our overstuffed society
Amid the swathes of discarded packaging and other waste from the festivities, the task of building a sustainable future seems all the more daunting. As we highlighted in The stuff of life2 – our report on consumption, consumerism, and the planet – the UK, like other major economies, has a disproportionate carbon footprint from consumption and production that damages earth systems and biodiversity.
It’s not unreasonable to feel that our society is being overwhelmed by stuff that we don’t really need. And it’s certainly harmful to the environment. As stated in our report, some 60-80% of the impacts on the planet come from household consumption.
The challenge of breaking this unsustainable take-make-throw-away cycle is immense. But I take heart from signs of shifting public attitudes and policy changes that should nudge UK households and businesses in the right direction, consistent with our mission.
Conscientious consumption, repair and re-use
Research in recent years has shown that more UK consumers wanted to avoid single-use plastics, and younger generations are more mindful of environmental impacts. In the US, for example, Gen Z (born roughly between 1995 and 2010, and the largest emerging consumer group) tends to show greater concern about sustainability when shopping3. More people too are embracing the advantages of repair and re-use.
As we argued in our repair and re-use ‘manifesto’ last year, the UK could avoid many millions of tons of waste each year with the right policy and market reforms. The re-use shops we manage (and our Renew Hub in Greater Manchester) show the demand for second-hand or pre-loved goods is there and growing – from bikes to electricals and furniture. During a cost-of-living crisis, price more often trumps environmental concerns. But the savings from buying lower-cost reconditioned goods are also important to households and help the planet too.
Significant policy and service reforms
After years of lobbying and consultations, government policy is tackling packaging waste through the UK’s extended producer responsibility scheme. Large companies that import or supply packaging now pay fees to cover the entire lifecycle costs of packaging waste, from collection to disposal. The estimated £1.2 billion raised annually should help local authorities improve recycling services and infrastructure5.
This new system should also discourage over-packaging and encourage standardised and more environmentally responsible packaging materials. Over time, it may spur greater use of refillable containers.
Meanwhile, the Simpler Recycling initiative is addressing the plateau in recycling rates for municipal waste, and the UK’s patchy performance. Larger businesses are already required to separate specified waste materials. From April this year, the new standardised rules apply to households who will need separate containers for their food waste, paper and card, other dry recyclables (plastic, glass, metal), and non-recyclable waste. The aims are to reduce public confusion over variations in local recycling rules, along with levels of contamination of recyclables and processing costs.
In November 2025, SUEZ UK joined a new programme that complements these significant changes in national policy. The UK Packaging Pact aims to accelerate the transition to a circular packaging system that will make more efficient use of materials6. Launched by environmental action group WRAP, it builds on the UK Plastics Pact, which we co-founded.
Signatories of the new, wider pact seek to avoid using ‘virgin’ materials, increase recyclability and recycled content, promote re-use and re-filling of packaging, and improve traceability. Ahead of this April’s formal launch of the voluntary 10-year agreement, 55 organisations have signed up, including national supermarket chains and retailers7.
So, despite the rising tide of post-consumer waste all around in early January, there are good reasons to expect progress over the coming year and beyond. On that optimistic note, I wish you a happy, healthy and fulfilling 2026.
