Industry representatives argue that growing regulatory and cost pressures risk increasing reliance on imported products from regions operating under less stringent environmental standards, potentially undermining domestic manufacturing resilience.
The debate reflects broader concerns across packaging manufacturing about balancing environmental ambition with industrial competitiveness, investment confidence and supply chain resilience during a period of significant regulatory transition.
The Foodservice Packaging Association (FPA) said: “The transition towards more sustainable packaging systems must be delivered in a way that also protects UK manufacturing competitiveness and supports long-term investment. Environmental policy can play an important role in driving innovation and improvement, but businesses also require regulatory certainty, realistic implementation timelines and a level international trading environment to avoid unintended economic consequences”.
