Systems Engineering Consultant

PA Consulting, PulPac, and Diageo work towards fibre bottle. At the London Packaging Week Innovation Awards, PA Consulting, PulPac, and Diageo were recognised in the Sustainable Packaging Innovation category for their ongoing work to develop a lower-carbon, fully recyclable paper packaging for drinks. In 2023, PulPac and PA Consulting launched the Bottle Collective, of which Diageo is a founding member. One of the goals of the collective is to create a fibre bottle alternative to help minimise the use of single-use plastic bottles in food, drink, consumer health, and FMCG industries. This was centred on PulPac's Dry Molded Fiber technology and uses renewable pulp and cellulose resources to produce low-cost, fibre-based packaging. The patented manufacturing process uses less carbon dioxide than plastic and conventional wet moulding options. Anthony (Tony) Perrotta, sustainability and regenerative economy expert at PA Consulting, said: "Sustainability wins that cannot ultimately be industrialised at meaningful volumes will not satisfy brand owners or regulators. Whilst this is an ongoing challenge, the Bottle Collective considers commercial scalability as an essential factor during the development. "We knew that this could not be a curated 'lab trophy'. While it is a bold innovation, there needed to be clear line of sight into producing millions of bottles at the speed, scale, and cost the industry requires. As a collective, that remains the direction of travel, and for Diageo's products specifically, we are still validating what that pathway looks like in practice." For Diageo, participation in the Bottle Collective has led to a live consumer trial in real-life conditions of a 70cl paper bottle made from 90% paper for its Johnnie Walker Black Label whisky. This makes it around 60% lighter than glass alternatives, with almost half the CO2e. "Fibre is the lead horse in the race to alternative materials," Perrotta adds. "In that context, the brands that lean into experimentation and are willing to showcase their progress will have an advantage in shaping future norms rather than reacting to them." "For alternative materials to be taken seriously at scale, they must not risk compromising the product and nor should they ask consumers to compromise on their experience. That balance is not fully resolved yet, and like any meaningful breakthrough, it takes time to get right."

The UK Recyclability Assessment Methodology (RAM): turning recyclability into a financial metric. RAM converts 'design for recycling' from a qualitative aspiration into a quantified rating that directly influences UK EPR fees for beauty and personal care packaging. The Recyclability Assessment Methodology (RAM) is the mechanism that converts "design for recycling" from a qualitative aspiration into a quantified rating that directly influences UK EPR fees. From January 2025, all liable producers that supply household packaging must assess and report the recyclability of that packaging using RAM. What RAM is and how it works. RAM is a government-specified framework, developed with PA Consulting and Defra, that evaluates each packaging component against actual UK recycling infrastructure. It looks at how easily a given item can be: * Collected in household systems * Sorted by UK MRFs and sorting technologies * Reprocessed by recyclers into secondary raw material * Applied in new products at meaningful scale Each packaging component is given a Red, Amber or Green (RAG) rating under RAM. These ratings are then used to modulate household packaging disposal fees under EPR, with "green" formats incurring lower fees and "red" formats attracting higher charges. Version 1.1 of RAM was published in April 2025, and a technical advisory committee will review and update it annually to reflect changes in UK infrastructure and policy. For beauty and personal care, RAM applies to household packaging components such as bottles, jars, caps, pumps, labels and outer cartons; non-household packaging is outside RAM's scope for now. Producers must complete RAM assessments for each relevant component from the 2025 packaging year and report the data according to regulatory timelines. Why RAM is critical for beauty brands. Beauty packaging often uses multiple materials, complex formats and high-impact aesthetics, all of which can complicate recyclability. RAM turns these technical nuances into a clear financial signal: * A "green" PET bottle with compatible closures and labels will attract lower modulated fees than a similar bottle with incompatible materials or formats that diminish recyclability. * An "amber" or "red" rating for components like pumps, sleeves or multi-material cartons will raise fees and may push brands to redesign to avoid ongoing cost penalties. * As RAM is updated over time, formats that are marginal today may become more or less favourable depending on how UK infrastructure evolves. For beauty and personal care brands, this means recyclability can no longer be treated as a secondary consideration behind aesthetics and cost. RAM effectively embeds recycling performance into the core economics of packaging. Building RAM into design and governance. To stay ahead, brands should integrate RAM thinking across the packaging lifecycle: * **Design and innovation:** Specify materials, formats and components known to achieve green RAM ratings, based on current versions of the methodology. * **Supplier selection and qualification:** Ask converters and component suppliers for RAM-aligned specifications and evidence of recyclability in UK systems. * **Portfolio reviews:** Prioritise redesign of high-volume SKUs where RAM indicates red or amber components, focusing on simplification and mono-material solutions. * **Scenario modelling:** Quantify the cost difference between red, amber and green outcomes to build strong internal business cases for change. In effect, RAM turns recyclability into a design constraint and an optimisation opportunity. Beauty and personal care brands that engineer for green ratings will be better positioned to control EPR costs, support credible sustainability claims and align with retailer expectations in the UK market. How Packgine helps. RAM Rating Engine: Packgine automatically assesses every packaging component against current RAM criteria, giving you instant Red, Amber or Green ratings across your entire portfolio. Fee Impact Modelling: See the direct financial impact of RAM ratings on your EPR fees. Packgine quantifies the cost difference between red, amber and green outcomes so you can prioritise redesign efforts. Design-for-Recycling Guidance: Its platform recommends specific material and format changes to move components from red or amber to green, with projected cost savings for each change. Portfolio Optimisation: Packgine identifies high-volume SKUs with poor RAM ratings and suggests simplification and mono-material solutions that reduce both fees and environmental impact.