Interview: Biffa's Roger Wright on Designing Packaging for Recyclability
Today at Rethink Materials, we sat down with Roger Wright. He has valuable advice for brands on their design for recyclability projects, given he's the Waste Strategy & Packaging manager at Biffa, the UK's largest Waste Management company.
Biffa has over 100 facilities all over the UK to support the sustainable processing of waste through recycling.
Matt Reynolds, Packaging World, today at Rethinking Materials in London:Why don’t you start by introducing yourself and sharing what you do at Biffa?
Roger Wright, BIffa: My name’s Roger Wright. I work for Biffa Waste Management, the largest waste management business in the UK. We cover about 95% of all postcodes, collecting both business and household waste. The business waste sector is the biggest part of our operation, but we also have several other interesting divisions—mechanical recycling of rigid plastics to food-grade quality, hazardous waste management, a packaging compliance business, and a strong innovation team looking across the whole waste infrastructure.
My focus is on packaging design, materials, and waste strategy. I help corporates determine whether to switch materials or rethink their business models, like reuse or take-back schemes. Since we’re a logistics company, we can often handle those solutions for them too. We’ve been involved in a few reuse projects over the past year. I’m fortunate to speak with both businesses and citizens, as well as startups introducing new materials. I call it the “good, the fad, and the ugly”—some materials will stick, others disappear quickly. We also work closely with the UK Government to help shape future packaging policy.
And when you say “corporates,” in the US we’d probably say “brand owners” or CPGs—same idea?
Yes—mostly retailers and large companies across sectors like food retail (e.g., John Lewis/Waitrose), non-food retail (like Dunelm), construction, hospitality (KFC, Costa Coffee), and a variety of others we call indirect partnerships—banks, facilities management, and more. I also spend about 20% of my time with brand owners like Suntory. For example, we helped Suntory redesign their Ribena bottle to make it easier to recycle. Just today, I saw that Lucozade has followed suit with a similar label change—50% smaller.
Can you walk through that Ribena project?
Suntory approached us because they wanted to acquire our recycled PET feedstock. We said yes but also said that it would be preferable if they also redesigned the Ribena bottle at the same time. The full-sleeve label they used meant the bottles weren’t being collected or recycled effectively. So we collaborated on a redesign, tested it through our systems, and proved it worked. It was a great example of how collaboration can lead to a win-win—improved recyclability and a better-looking product.
Was that a PET bottle with a PE label?
It was a PET bottle with a PP label. The system couldn’t identify it as PET, and it would often end up in residual waste. Suntory recognized the issue and acted on it, which I really respect.
That kind of change can scale across brands.
Exactly. They tested it first with Ribena and now extended it to Lucozade. It’s a smart approach.
You’ve also mentioned Polytag and Greyparrot—can you explain how you’re working with those technologies?Roger Wright (middle and on screen), Waste Strategy & Packaging manager at Biffa, has pointers for CPGs on packaging design.
We’re already using Greyparrot’s AI and Polytag’s covert labelling to count materials as they pass through our facilities. That data is sent back to retailers to help them track whether products are actually being recycled. Polytag closes the loop—it provides the evidence brands need to understand recycling performance.
And how does the upcoming UK deposit return scheme (DRS) affect that?
The DRS, set to launch in two years, will pull PET bottles and aluminium cans out of the mixed recycling stream and collect them separately. That creates two parallel systems—DRS for drinks containers, and our regular MRFs for everything else like trays and films. It’s long overdue, and brands support it because it provides clean material and consumer data. People start to value the material more when they get something back for returning it.
What about AI sorters in the US—like Glacier and Everest?
We’re trialling similar technology here under the name “Sorted,” using AI and robotics for sorting. You can go manual or automated, or a blend. It’s fascinating tech, and promising.
What’s the state of HolyGrail 2.0 on the continent?
From our perspective, it’s gone quiet. It’s quite similar to Polytag—discrete barcodes embedded in label graphics. We don’t want to install multiple camera systems, so ideally there will be standardization. But it’s tricky to mandate globally due to competition laws.
Any final thoughts for Packaging World readers, many of them brand owners who wrestle with sustainable packaging decisions?
First, please collaborate where you can—standardize formats like we’ve done with milk bottles in the UK. That really improves recycling yields. Second, consider your manufacturing side-streams. Can you bring some of that material back into your packaging? We’re working with P&G in the UK on exactly that.
Also, look at post-industrial plastic films—like shrink wrap. In the UK, retailers collect this and blend it with consumer-collected films from in-store bins. The yield isn’t amazing—around 50%—but it’s better than nothing and brings real value.
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