More than two thirds of UK consumers are still confused by what packaging can and can’t be recycled, potentially hampering the effectiveness of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation, according to new research from packaging materials specialist Aquapak.

EPR is designed to increase recycling rates by making product manufacturers and retailers responsible for the packaging they create.

The research found that 70% of consumers remain unclear about which materials can go into their recycling bins, while just 21% say they always read the recycling instructions on packaging. Nearly one in ten never reads recycling instructions.

Even those who do read the instructions have trouble understanding them. Only 10% of UK consumers says they always find the recycling information easy to understand, with more than half saying they ‘sometimes’ understand what to do.

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“Our research findings suggest that there is a very long way to go when it comes to making packaging recyclability in the UK easy to understand for the consumer, particularly as so much of it contains hard to recycle plastic material,” said Aquapak chief technical officer Dr John Williams.

“There needs to be a significant shift away from the status quo for packaging. New legislation should support faster adoption of innovation that is specifically developed to retain packaging functionality, support recyclability and offer safe end of life options if optimal waste management processes are not available.”

EPR seeks to make producers responsible for the full cost of recycling the packaging they create, encouraging them to facilitate more efficient recycling schemes.

Paper packaging was considered the easiest to recycle by consumers who took part in the study, followed by glass, then plastic. Only 9% felt that mixed materials packaging was easy to recycle, and only 7% felt that metal packaging guidelines were clear.