Ricardo-AEA appointed as On-Pack Recycling Label scheme monitor

The OPRL scheme is operated by OPRL Ltd, a not-for-profit company. It features a recognisable label to provide information on the recyclability of an item’s packaging components, enabling consumers to understand how to dispose of the materials.

OPRL Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Retail Consortium, under licence from the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP). WRAP provides technical support and measures local authorities’ recycling capabilities determining the labeling category for each packaging material.

The labeling scheme has three categories which tell consumers how likely it is that their local authority accepts a particular packaging material for recycling. The categories are: widely recycled (75 percent or more of local authorities collect that material); check local recycling (between 20 percent and 75 percent of local authorities collect that material); and not currently recycled (less than 20 percent of local authorities collect that material).

Launched in March 2009 with a mainly grocery-based membership of retailers and brands, the OPRL scheme has grown to cover other sectors and organizations.

In total, more than 150 manufacturers and producers, charities and leisure organizations, sole traders and multinationals use the OPRL scheme to engage their customers, deliver on their corporate responsibility commitments and help achieve higher recycling rates and recyclate availability.

OPRL scheme participants include all of the UK’s major supermarkets, a number of high street and online retailers, many leading consumer brands, and numerous small and bespoke producers. Those signed up to the scheme include Asda, Aldi, Bernard Matthews, Carlsberg, Coca-Cola, Dairy Crest, Dr. Oetker, Heinz, Heineken, John Lewis Partnership, Kimberly-Clark Europe, Nestlé UK, PepsiCo, Tesco, SCA Hygiene product (UK), Henkel, GlaxoSmithKline Nutritional Healthcare and AkzoNobel Decorative Paints. A full list of OPRL scheme members can be found here.

Through its contract, Ricardo-AEA will be monitoring how the label is used in practice, ensuring that retailers and manufacturers are providing consumers with the correct information. The work will involve monitoring how widely the label is being used across product lines by scheme members and checking that the right image is being applied to products.

Tim Lineham, Ricardo-AEA program manager, said: ‘The On-Pack Recycling Label is a great way of providing consumers with the information they need to recycle more items.

‘By carrying this label, OPRL participants are helping their customers reduce waste and support the circular economy. Over the next two years, Ricardo-AEA will provide OPRL Ltd with useful insights into the volume of products carrying the label and will also help retailers and manufacturers to provide accurate information to customers, improving environmental impact through reducing unnecessary waste.’

Jane Bevis, OPRL Ltd chair, added: ‘Consumers tell us that they need clear information on whether packaging can be recycled if they are to recycle more. Our label provides clear and simple messaging to help consumers, and 6 in 10 of them already recognise the label. It’s really important to us that the label is used properly to support more consumer recycling, enabling our members to use more recycled material in their packaging.

‘We are looking forward to working with Ricardo-AEA over the next two years: they have an excellent track record of helping retailers cut waste and have supported other sustainability labeling initiatives such as the EU Water and Energy label schemes.’