IN Brief:
- Tiptree is using Amcor collation shrink film and stretch wrap containing 30% post-consumer recycled plastic.
- The films use RecyClass-certified recycled-content traceability and are intended to retain the handling and load-containment performance required in distribution.
- UK Plastic Packaging Tax rules change in April 2027, when pre-consumer material will no longer count towards the recycled-content threshold.
Tiptree has moved part of its secondary and transit packaging to films containing 30% post-consumer recycled plastic, using Amcor collation shrink film and Bontite Sustane stretch wrap. The change puts Wilkin & Sons ahead of revisions to the UK Plastic Packaging Tax due in April 2027.
Both materials are covered by RecyClass recycled-plastics traceability certification aligned with EN 15343. Amcor says the products are manufactured at its UK operations, with the programme intended to give customers independently audited evidence of the recycled material incorporated into finished packaging.
The films sit beyond the jam jar and closure seen by consumers, but they carry a substantial production and logistics role. Collation shrink film groups finished packs into handling units, while stretch film stabilises pallet loads through warehousing and transport. Both materials have to tolerate wrapping machinery, tension, shrink conditions, pallet handling, and distribution without increasing breakages or line interruptions.
The regulatory driver is unusually specific. UK Plastic Packaging Tax applies to finished plastic packaging components containing less than 30% recycled plastic. From 1 April 2027, pre-consumer plastic waste will cease to qualify towards that threshold, increasing the emphasis on material recovered after consumer use and on the records demonstrating where recycled feedstock originated.
That turns traceability into part of the packaging specification. A supplier can state a recycled-content percentage, but manufacturers claiming tax treatment also need evidence that the feedstock meets the applicable definition. Certification gives procurement and compliance teams a clearer chain of documentation than relying solely on an unsupported material declaration.
Amcor has been extending that certification across its flexible-packaging portfolio. Its UK programme covers several products containing PCR, including shrink films and stretch films, and the company has separately certified selected Bontite Sustane grades used for pallet protection. The Tiptree project takes those material and audit systems into a named food-manufacturing application.
Recycled polyethylene is not necessarily identical to virgin resin. Feedstock history, contamination, polymer degradation, colour, odour, and consistency can influence film behaviour, requiring converters to manage formulation and processing closely if higher recycled content is to perform on existing equipment.
Shrink film must deliver predictable shrink force, sealing, puncture resistance, and stiffness, while stretch film needs sufficient elongation and holding force to stabilise a pallet. If recycled content leads to more web breaks, extra wraps, heavier gauges, or damaged product, any saving in virgin polymer can be offset by additional packaging consumption or operational loss.
Amcor says its current collation shrink portfolio can incorporate substantial PCR content while maintaining shrink behaviour, seal integrity, and high-speed runnability. Its Bontite stretch products are similarly designed around load containment and puncture resistance, leaving the food producer to establish whether those characteristics remain stable on its own packing and warehouse equipment.
Tiptree’s commercial adoption indicates that the materials have moved beyond a supplier demonstration into routine use. Secondary packaging is rarely the most visible part of a sustainability programme, yet a high-volume food factory can consume significant quantities of collation and pallet film every year, making relatively small changes in resin composition material when spread across production.
The project follows similar work on recycled content closer to the product. PureCycle and Innovia Films have validated food-contact BOPP containing more than 40% post-consumer recycled polypropylene, extending recycled resin into structures where food-contact and barrier requirements make material substitution more difficult.
Transit films face a different test because the overriding requirement is mechanical reliability. A pallet that shifts or collapses during transport wastes far more material and product than the film wrapped around it, which makes downgauging or recycled-content increases dependent on measurable load containment rather than the recycled percentage alone.
The April 2027 tax change gives other UK manufacturers a fixed deadline to review their packaging records. Existing specifications may include recycled material that no longer qualifies under the revised definition, leaving businesses to change feedstock, update certificates, trial alternative films, or accept the tax charge.
Tiptree has made that adjustment before the definition changes. The consumer-facing jars remain unaffected, but the film grouping cases and securing pallets now combines 30% post-consumer content with a traceability system designed around the next version of the UK tax rules.
