Alison Appleby, Packaging Sustainability Specialist at Ecosurety, explains in a feature for Circular why producers need to act on the RAM now.
If you're classed as a large organisation under EPR, you will soon be required to apply the new Recyclability Assessment Methodology (RAM) and report on the red, amber or green (RAG) results as part of your EPR submission for household packaging. It’s critical that you get to grips with how the RAM will impact your packaging as soon as possible – at a material level.
In the feature for Circular, Alison highlights that:
To successfully complete a RAM assessment, businesses will need a much greater level of detail on their packaging. This includes detail on packaging adhesives, label sizes, ink types, and additives - to name just a few.
When looking at the full RAM, there are almost 700 unique data points and features within its 6,500 words. This will be no small task for businesses and should be taken seriously.
Alison explores the challenges that the RAM presents for industry and the expected response, and what to expect in the future. You can read more about the impact of the RAM in Alison’s article in Circular here
Get started with the RAM now
We are strongly recommending that our members start to investigate their packaging handled in 2025, so they know how to gather this information when the RAM submission is due. This is because future RAM assessments will require new, detailed information about the format and material specification of packaging, which will be a complex undertaking for many producers.
For our members the first data submission that includes the recyclability assessment is due to Ecosurety in July 2025.
To help Ecosurety members get started now, we’ve published the member-exclusive article 8 steps to get prepared for the RAM, which we encourage all our members to read as soon as possible.
If you require any assistance with the RAM, please contact your account manager directly or if you are not yet a member, simply complete our contact form and we’ll be in touch.
