Ecosurety first compliance scheme to join OPRL

Ecosurety has become the first compliance scheme to sign up to the On-Pack Recycling Label (OPRL) scheme.

Ecosurety and OPRL have many joint members, and by signing up to the OPRL scheme, Ecosurety hopes to be able to offer its members a fully aligned service on the recyclability and labelling of their packaging.

The OPRL scheme, which was founded in 2009 by leading retailers and brands to engage consumers more actively in recycling, has three categories that tell consumers how likely it is that their local authority will accept specific packaging materials for recycling.

These categories are:

• Widely recycled – 75 per cent or more of UK local authorities collect that type of packaging;
• Check local recycling – between 20 and 75 per cent of UK local authorities collect that type of packaging; and
• Not currently recycled – fewer than 20 per cent of UK local authorities collect that type of packaging.

Over 550 brands use the label system to inform consumers about the recyclability of their products’ packaging.

Ecosurety is but the latest addition to OPRL’s rapidly growing membership, with a new member joining every three days in the first few months of 2018. The scheme has also attracted financial support in recent years from the likes of RECOUP, LARAC (the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee) and the Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment (ACE) UK, who are now guarantors of the scheme.

Last autumn, membership was opened to packaging designers and manufacturers, as well as to packers, fillers and others in the supply chain. OPRL has launched new online and member support services over the last 18 months, including a label artwork library, a labelling tool to identify the correct labels and a matrix tool to help in building an accurate label.

It’s been all change at the top for OPRL as well, with Stuart Lendrum being appointed as the scheme’s first Executive Director, tasked with driving forward the growth of the scheme and its related services.

Jane Bevis, Chair of OPRL, said: “This is another major step forward for us as we work to strengthen the end-to-end service members receive. We're over the moon that Ecosurety is joining OPRL and can support our joint members in using our labelling effectively. With an eye to future Extended Producer Responsibility provisions, and as PREP UK, our new designing for recyclability tool, comes online and addresses both environmental and infrastructure impacts, this collaborative approach will help retailers and brands manage their packaging range with circularity fully embedded.”

“Consumers are calling for both clear, simple and consistent labelling, and the assurance that the packaging they use touches as lightly as possible on the planet. By working closely with compliance schemes we believe OPRL can support retailers and brands in achieving this."

Commenting on the announcement, James Piper, Managing Director of Ecosurety, said: “We are delighted to join OPRL. It was an obvious and natural choice as Ecosurety is committed to making a positive impact on recycling, and the work OPRL undertakes to improve consumer awareness is completely aligned with our own aims. We are looking forward to working closely together on our first project, the #LeedsByExample awareness campaign that starts in September and is targeting on-the-go recycling”.