OPRL welcomes PackUK RAM roadmap

OPRL has welcomed the publication of PackUK’s Recyclability Assessment Methodology (RAM) 2025-2030 roadmap, describing it as a valuable tool for brands navigating the complexity of packaging EPR.

Alice Harlock, Director of Technical and Member Services at OPRL, said: “Mapping out key dates and focus areas will be really useful in helping to set realistic expectations for our members. It also emphasises the scale of the work to be undertaken by the RAM technical advisory committee.”

The roadmap provides a strategic overview of RAM development, including specific material reviews over the next five years. Harlock added: “PackUK’s outline will underpin OPRL’s advice to members using our recyclability assessment tool, but we hope that it will also inform any planned investment by brands. For example, awareness of a planned review of some of the elements removed in RAM V1.1, such as food contamination and PET and PE trays, will help producers decide the best time to make packaging decisions.”

OPRL has also seen a high level of queries around fibre-based composites (FBCs), flexible plastics and definitions. Harlock said: “As England-wide collections come into force through Simpler Recycling, flexible plastics will become easier to recycle. This has an impact on labelling, as well as RAM status. OPRL will be monitoring all the planned reviews and subsequent changes, in order to advise our members and update our labels going forward.”

Ends

Editors notes

1. OPRL is the UKs independent expert in recyclability for packaging, best known for the world-leading on-pack recycling labels that it supplies to its members.  OPRL works to achieve its vision of a world where packaging does not go to waste.

2. OPRL is an independent, not-for-profit company limited by guarantee, established to help retailers and brands engage their customers in recycling.  

3. The company’s guarantors span ACE UK, Alupro, British Glass, CPI, INCPEN, LARAC, MPMA and RECOUP. 

4. OPRL was launched in 2009, as a not-for-profit limited by guarantee as part of the British Retail Consortium (BRC). The move followed work between BRC, the Food and Drink Federation (FDF), their leading members, and WRAP. The aim was to devise a labelling system that would engage consumers with recycling, as local authorities started to roll out basic services.