MPs have backed calls for greater government support for UK companies developing alternatives to plastic packaging as Parliament increases its focus on tackling the global plastics crisis.
At a briefing in Westminster hosted by the Natural Polymers Group, MPs heard how Britain-led innovation in nature-based materials could create a £4.2 billion industry and create more than 35,000 high-skilled green jobs across the country.
More than a dozen MPs, colleagues and officials attended the event, where companies such as Xampla, Notpla, MarinaTex and Plantea presented packaging solutions that aim to completely replace single-use plastics.
The Natural Polymers Group brings together seven British innovators working with materials that are made in nature, not chemically modified and fully biodegradable and compostable. Crucially, these materials are expressly excluded from the legal definition of plastic under the Single-Use Plastics Directive and the REACH regulations. But activists argue that British regulation has been slow to recognize their advantages over traditional plastics.
The United Nations estimates that more than 400 million tons of plastic waste is generated worldwide every year, and plastic pollution is expected to triple by 2060 if no action is taken. MPs were told that while recycling has dominated politics for decades, it cannot solve the crisis alone.
Industry experts argued at the briefing that meaningful progress requires intervention across the entire lifecycle of plastics, from production to disposal, making replacement rather than recycling the priority.
Models were also presented to policymakers showing that with the right regulatory and commercial support, natural polymer technologies could create tens of thousands of skilled jobs and position the UK as a world leader in sustainable materials.
Charlotte Cane, Liberal Democrat MP for Ely and East Cambridgeshire, said the sector offered a rare opportunity to combine environmental leadership with economic growth.
“This exciting industry is leading the way in tackling the global plastic crisis and has great potential,” she said. “Developing nature-based solutions will help achieve net zero while creating well-paid, high-skilled jobs in communities like mine and across the UK.”
“For far too long, policymakers have focused only on recycling plastics. These innovators show what can be achieved when we aim to completely replace plastics.”
Assheton Carter, chairman of the Natural Polymers Group, said the discussions were an important step in adapting regulation to technological advances.
“It is encouraging to see MPs, colleagues and officials working directly with innovators to accelerate the adoption of natural polymers as credible, mainstream alternatives to plastic,” he said. “A constructive dialogue between industry and politics is essential so that regulation can develop in step with the industry.”
Alexandra French, Xampla’s managing director responsible for UK regulation, said natural polymers are crucial as the economy moves away from fossil fuel-based materials.
“These technologies offer a practical and scalable alternative to plastic,” she said. “By working with policymakers we can accelerate implementation in practice, driving economic growth in the UK while reducing plastic pollution at the source.”
MPs attending the event said the industry had “huge potential” and signaled support for moving the policy debate beyond recycling and replacing plastic with innovative, nature-based solutions developed by UK companies.
