CORPORATE ACTION: Mars
Mars Trims Pringles Minis Packaging By 10%
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Mars cut packaging on its Pringles Minis range by 10%, according to Inside FMCG, and projects that the redesign will save approximately 30.7 tonnes of virgin plastic each year. Updated packs will roll out across major Australian supermarkets. Ileana Andrei at Mars Salty Snacks said, “Through a detailed review of our packaging, we found ways to remove excess space without changing what’s inside the pack.”[Image Credit: © Kellanova]
CORPORATE ACTION: Unilever
Unilever Bangladesh Extends Chattogram Plastic Waste Partnership
Unilever Bangladesh renewed its tripartite partnership with Chattogram City Corporation and Young Power in Social Action for another two years to strengthen plastic waste management and improve waste worker livelihoods. Between June 2022 and April 2026, more than 32,000 tonnes of plastic waste were collected, with flexible plastics accounting for nearly 70%. Around 3,000 waste workers and 220 scrap buyers received training.[Image Credit: © YPSA]
Philippine Groups File Pollution Complaint Against Unilever
Multisectoral groups in the Philippines, including coastal residents, people involved in the fishing industry and waste workers, filed a pollution complaint against Unilever PLC and Unilever Philippines. Complainants seek an immediate cease-and-desist order to stop Unilever from manufacturing, importing and distributing multi-layer plastic laminate packaging, and demand the company clean up plastic pollution in affected waterways at its own expense. Greenpeace states Unilever produced over 475 billion sachets from 2010-2020 and was identified as the top sachet polluter in India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam in a 2023 brand audit.[Image Credit: © Miguel Louie de Guzman / Greenpeace]
CORPORATE ACTION: Other
Amcor Provides Refill Containers For Ocado Retail Program
Amcor will continue producing bespoke 2kg and 3kg refillable containers for the Refill Coalition’s ongoing trial with Ocado Retail in the UK. Ocado customers can return empty containers to their delivery driver for cleaning and reuse. Each container is expected to be refillable 50-100 times. A GoUnpackaged report titled “A 30%+ reuse future for the UK” states that moving to 30% reuse in UK retail could cut CO2e emissions by 95% and save £136 million annually through reduced EPR costs. [Image Credit: © Amcor plc]
Primo Brands Tackles EPR Through Refill And Reuse
Primo Brands, owner of Poland Spring, Pure Life and Arrowhead, says its reusable bottle program avoided approximately 180 million pounds of virgin plastic waste in 2024. Heavy-duty 3- and 5-gallon bottles are designed for high-frequency reuse, and each 5-gallon bottle is estimated to displace 1,000 single-use bottles. Around 29% of company volume is sold in these reusable containers. Operations include Direct Delivery to homes and offices, a Pre-Filled Exchange program across roughly 26,500 retail locations, and around 23,500 self-service Water Refill stations. [Image Credit: © engin akyurt on Unsplash]
CAMPAIGNS, COMMITMENTS & NGOs
UK Deposit Return Scheme Raises Retailer Concerns Ahead Of Launch
From October 2027, UK grocery retailers selling soft drinks in single-use plastic and metal containers must charge a deposit at the point of purchase and host return points. Exchange for Change will be administered by the UK Deposit Management Organisation. It aims for a 90% container return rate within three years of launch. Customers using stores with reverse vending machines will receive vouchers redeemable at the till; manual collection stores must refund customers directly. [Image Credit: © SHOX ART on Pexels]
CONSUMER & PUBLIC OPINION
Survey Finds European Consumers Favor Cartonboard Over Plastic
A Pro Carton survey of more than 5,000 consumers in Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the UK found that 89% prefer cardboard packaging to plastic, up from 87% the previous year. Around 62% claimed they intensified their recycling efforts in the past year. Separate Pro Carton research reported that 37% of European consumers switched brands due to packaging concerns. [Image Credit: © Pro Carton]
MARKET NEWS
Oil Price Spike Lifts Virgin Resin Costs
Oil price increases linked to tensions around the Strait of Hormuz are flowing through to virgin-resin prices, narrowing the cost gap that has historically blocked reuse and refill rollouts from achieving favorable unit economics versus single-use plastics. Industry analysts describe the shift as a quiet but material macro tailwind for the refill agenda over the next six to twelve months. Effects are seen as relevant across the whole consumer packaged goods and packaging value chain.[Image Credit: © Possessed Photography on Unsplash]
PACKAGING REDESIGNS
Mondi And Dreco Launch 50% Recycled Detergent Packaging
Mondi and German home care brand Dreco introduced powder detergent packaging containing 50% post-consumer recycled content. Called the re/loop PillowBag, it launched in retailers across Germany. Mondi applied a mass balance approach under its ISCC PLUS certification to enable traceable allocation of PCR materials. Dreco managing director Milo Drehsen said working with Mondi enabled “a solution that combines high recycled content with the protection our products require.”[Image Credit: © Mondi]
POLICY, REGULATION & LEGAL
Greens Push National Packaging EPR Scheme
A federal Greens bill proposing a national Extended Producer Responsibility scheme for packaging adds to the calls for reform in Australia. Boomerang Alliance director Jeff Angel said the existing co-regulatory scheme failed to deliver after 25 years, that “there is no reuse strategy, and greenwash has proliferated.” Reforms supported by the Alliance include a legislated EPR framework, mandated targets for reduction, reuse, recycling and recycled content, as well as an industry-funded national soft plastics collection system. [Image Credit: © Boomerang Alliance]
California Finalizes SB 54 Rules Amid Lawsuit Threats
California’s Office of Administrative Law approved permanent regulations for SB 54, the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act. SB54 requires all plastic packaging sold in the state to be recyclable or compostable by 2032 and requires a 25% reduction in single-use plastics. Natural Resources Defense Council and Californians Against Waste announced plans to sue, arguing CalRecycle improperly exempted certain packaging and allowed “polluting technologies” to count as recycling.[Image Credit: © Mathias Reding on Unsplash]
NGO Coalition Opposes Corporate Push To Delay PPWR
More than 160 environmental and health groups, as part of the Break Free From Plastic alliance, wrote to EU institutions urging them to reject a leaked letter from over 100 food and beverage CEOs, including Coca-Cola, Heineken, McDonald’s, Kraft Heinz and Mondelez, which asks for the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation to be delayed and some major provisions revised before its August 2026 planned implementation date. Signatories to the NGO coalition letter warn that reopening agreed legislation would undermine regulatory certainty for companies already investing in compliance and set a precedent for corporate influence over environmental law.[Image Credit: © Nick Fewings on Unsplash]
Vietnam Launches Mandatory Recycling Obligations For Producers
From May 25, producers and importers in Vietnam must meet mandatory recycling obligations under Decree 110/2026, either by organizing recycling activities themselves or by contributing to the Vietnam Environmental Protection Fund. Aluminum packaging and rigid PET plastics face a 22% recycling rate, higher than paper, carton and ferrous metal packaging at 20%. Recycling rates will be reviewed every three years. [Image Credit: © Vyvan BÙI VY VÂN on Pexels]
RESEARCH
Coalition Says Three Federal Bills Are Greenwashing
Plastic Pollution Coalition published analysis arguing that three measures before US would prop up a system the group says has never worked at scale. According to the analysis, passage could lock FMCG brands into another decade of unrecyclable plastic. According to the coalition, the Recycling Technologies Innovation Act, the Packaging and Claims Knowledge Act and the Recycled Materials Attribution Act are being touted as environmental progress but actually promote chemical recycling, which it sees as harmful and ineffective, and also restrict the ability of states to protect consumers from greenwashing.[Image Credit: © Collab Media on Pexels]
Finnish Researchers Pilot Easy Reuse In Supermarkets
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and the University of Vaasa are advancing a European reuse pilot for takeaway and grocery foods designed, in the project team’s words, to be “as easy as buying a ready meal” in supermarkets. An underlying hypothesis is that reuse will only scale where the consumer experience genuinely matches single-use convenience. Participating retailers have yet to be confirmed publicly. Project organizers are testing checkout, return and cleaning workflows that aim to remove friction points that have stalled previous European in-store refill initiatives across both takeaway and grocery food categories.[Image Credit: © Deski Jayantoro on Unsplash]
OTHER NEWS
Sidley Warns Of Converging EPR Compliance Sprint
A client alert from law firm Sidley summarizes packaging and textile EPR deadlines facing US producers, including 31 May reporting cut-offs across six states. According to the alert, compliance functions inside many companies remain under-resourced for the volume of supply data that state programs are demanding. Sidley urged producers to treat the coming four weeks as a compliance sprint and brand owners with US distribution, alongside private-label and retailer-branded SKUs, are flagged as particularly vulnerable to intensifying legal scrutiny of FMCG packaging compliance.[Image Credit: © Twiggy Jia on Pexels]
Germany Tops Global Plastic Waste Exporters In 2025
Germany was the world’s largest exporter of plastic waste in 2025, sending more than 810,000 tonnes overseas, according to one source. UK followed at 675,000 tonnes, its highest level in eight years. Much of the waste went to Turkey, followed by Malaysia and Indonesia, where investigations have linked recycling operations to illegal dumping, burning, environmental damage and labor abuses. From November 2026, EU countries will be banned from exporting plastic waste to non-OECD countries under waste shipment regulations unless recipients can demonstrate sustainable handling capacity.[Image Credit: © Nathan Cima on Unsplash]
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