FPF FlexCollect wins edie award for partnership and collaboration

The Flexible Plastic Fund’s FlexCollect project was presented with the Partnership and Collaboration Award for Sustainability Transformation at the 2026 edie awards.

The edie awards is the UK’s largest corporate sustainability awards scheme which celebrates the most ambitious and authentic approaches to climate action. This award is a fantastic recognition of the achievements of the FlexCollect project, celebrating what can be achieved when industry works together.

A truly collaborative effort

FlexCollect is the UK’s largest kerbside collection trial for flexible plastic packaging. The project brought together more than 20 partners to test how flexible plastics can be collected and recycled at scale.

The FlexCollect project was run by the Flexible Plastic Fund (FPF); a collaborative fund that was established in 2021 with the goal to incentivise flexible plastic recycling as quickly as possible. Managed by Ecosurety, the fund was established with five founding partners: Mars UK, Mondelēz International, Nestlé, PepsiCo and Unilever. Since then it has been joined by more than 15 renowned UK consumer goods’ manufacturers. These partners, alongside local authorities, DEFRA, Suez, WRAP, RECOUP and more, worked together over a period of 3 years to make the FlexCollect project a success.

After 10 pilots across 160,000 households, the FlexCollect project launched its final report at the House of Commons in September 2025. The report delivered robust evidence to help inform policy and infrastructure decisions, supporting preparations for the rollout of mandatory flexible plastic collections under Simpler Recycling from 2027.

The scale, ambition and commitment to sharing evidence openly make the FlexCollect project a powerful example of why collaboration between retailers, recyclers and manufacturers is essential to driving circular economy progress.

What's next?

The FlexCollect project is just the beginning. The FPF intends to continue its work to support the transition to a truly circular system for flexible plastic packaging. Watch this space for more information on the fund’s next steps!

The FPF FlexCollect report, including its blueprint, the executive summary and the key insights from the 3-year project are available to download on the FPF website.