EP Group shares practical takeaways from Environmental Packaging Summit 2025

EP Group has broken down its key insights from this year’s Environmental Packaging Summit – cutting through the noise to focus on what really matters: where progress is happening, and where we still need to push harder.

The two day event brought together policymakers, brands, and packaging experts to talk about the future of sustainable packaging. EP Group highlights the strong discussion and positive progress, but also notes a few recurring gaps – from the lack of consumer focus to questions around infrastructure readiness.

As expected, one topic is EPR, in which the subject of fairness is given further context by the updated fees published on 27th June 2025.

‘We left the summit feeling positive about the direction of travel, but also clear on what still needs to change,’ said Richard Inskip, compliance and sustainability manager.

The company highlights five key areas:

• Collaboration is growing, but it needs proper direction, especially between producers, government, and waste operators.

• EPR remains confusing and in some cases unfair. Fibre based materials saw little benefit in the updated fees, while harder to recycle materials saw greater reductions.

• The consumer was mostly missing from the conversation ­– a gap that is hard to ignore when they are the ones doing the actual recycling.

• Innovation is moving fast, but infrastructure isn’t. If we can’t collect or process new materials at scale, we stall real world impact.

• Recognition only matters when it is earned and backed up by measurable, practical change.

Further information is available on EP Group’s website, aimed at helping businesses stay informed and make better decisions around packaging, sustainability, and compliance.