Certified stretch films target tax change

Amcor has secured RecyClass Recycled Plastics Traceability Certification under EN 15343 for selected Bontite Sustane stretch films used to protect palletised goods.

The certified specifications contain defined levels of post-consumer recycled material and are manufactured at Amcor sites in Leominster, UK, and Zele, Belgium. Independent auditing verifies how recycled plastic moves through production and into the finished film.

Bontite is a blown linear low-density polyethylene stretch-wrap range designed to stabilise pallet loads during storage and transport. Depending on the specification and application, the films provide holding force, puncture resistance, stretch performance, and sufficient clarity for load identification.

Optimising the film and wrapping process can reduce the quantity applied to each pallet while maintaining containment. Performance depends on film thickness, pre-stretch, wrap pattern, number of revolutions, pallet geometry, product weight, and the condition of the wrapping equipment.

The certification precedes a change to the UK Plastic Packaging Tax in April 2027. Pre-consumer recycled material will no longer count towards the 30% recycled-content threshold, leaving post-consumer recycled content as the qualifying route.

Packaging buyers will consequently need more precise evidence about material origin, chain of custody, and the proportion incorporated into each supplied product. A general recycled-content statement will not establish whether the material qualifies under the revised rules.

RecyClass certification provides an independently audited traceability framework aligned with a recognised European standard. Amcor has also secured certification for flexible-packaging operations at Ardeer, Bromborough, and Winsford in the UK, alongside sites in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Poland.

Although stretch film is rarely visible to the final customer, it forms a substantial part of packaging use across beverage, ambient grocery, ingredients, canned foods, and other pallet-intensive operations.

Secondary packaging enters stricter reporting

A large food factory can consume stretch film across finished-goods dispatch, raw-material receipt, work-in-progress storage, and transfers between manufacturing and distribution locations. Tax and reporting obligations therefore extend beyond the printed pack placed on the retail shelf.

Increasing recycled content is not purely a procurement change because the film must still withstand sharp case corners, irregular loads, timber splinters, temperature variation, vibration, forklift handling, automated wrapping, and long transport routes.

When a pallet fails, the resulting damage can exceed the environmental and financial cost of the film many times over. Collapsed cases, leaking containers, rejected loads, and unsafe handling can turn saleable food into waste.

Post-consumer feedstock can show greater variability than virgin resin or selected industrial scrap. Collection, sorting, washing, contamination, melt filtration, and compounding influence odour, colour, gels, mechanical strength, and consistency.

Film manufacturers manage that variation through resin selection, layer design, process settings, and quality control. Blown co-extrusion allows materials with different properties to be placed within separate layers, although the finished structure still has to perform as one film.

Load trials become essential when the specification changes. Containment force, puncture, tear propagation, elongation, cling, neck-down, and relaxation determine whether the pallet remains stable after wrapping and during distribution.

Tests should use the customer’s actual goods and equipment because a film that performs well around uniform cartons may behave differently around beverage trays, sacks, pails, or mixed-height cases.

Wrapping-machine condition also influences consumption. Worn rollers, incorrect tension, damaged sensors, inconsistent turntable speed, or poorly configured pre-stretch can increase film use without improving load stability.

A technically stronger film may reduce total kilograms applied even where its unit price is higher. The relevant calculation includes material per pallet, wrapping time, damaged loads, downtime, tax exposure, and the cost of handling failures.

The balance between recycled content and product protection also appears in rigid barrier packaging designed around recycled material and tax exposure. Both applications require material changes to preserve the mechanical and protective function of the original pack.

Reporting requirements are expanding across Europe through Extended Producer Responsibility, national packaging taxes, customer sustainability programmes, and the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation. Procurement teams increasingly need evidence capable of supporting audits rather than relying on an unverified percentage declaration.

Traceability certification does not determine the tax treatment of every customer or application. Businesses still need to confirm the exact product specification, supplied recycled-content level, packaging weight, records, exemptions, and their own role within the tax rules.

Certification does, however, strengthen the evidence chain by establishing that the recycled material has been independently audited through production. That distinction will become more valuable when pre-consumer material ceases to qualify towards the threshold.

Manufacturers should also avoid treating the 30% figure as the only design objective. A film containing more recycled material can still increase total packaging use if it needs additional wraps to secure the load.

The strongest outcome combines verified post-consumer content with lower film weight and stable pallets. Achieving all three requires cooperation between the film supplier, wrapping-equipment provider, packaging team, warehouse, haulier, and receiving customer.

Bontite Sustane will therefore be judged through both documentation and physical performance. Its certification establishes the origin of the recycled material; the wrapping process must still demonstrate that the finished pallet can survive the supply chain with no unnecessary film and no increase in product loss.