Key takeaways from the Positive Luxury podcast at London Packaging Week
How can luxury brands turn evolving packaging regulations into an opportunity for innovation, stronger supplier partnerships and greater consumer trust? This was the focus of Positive Luxury’s podcast at London Packaging Week, where Positive Luxury’s Olivia Tasker joined Will Gadsby, Managing Director at Gadsby, a member of the Good Supplier Programme.
Together, they explored the implications of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and the EU’s Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive (ECGT), discussing how businesses can respond to changing regulatory expectations while maintaining product quality, rethinking development processes and communicating sustainability commitments with greater confidence.
Listen to the full podcast discussion here:
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Make packaging responsibility part of product development from the start
EPR places greater financial and operational responsibility on producers for the packaging they put on the market, including its end-of-life management. For luxury businesses, this brings material choices, packaging weights and reporting requirements further into focus.
As Will explained, EPR has changed how Gadsby works with its clients, moving sustainability considerations that might once have been treated as a final checklist into the critical path of product development.
“We have to take on that responsibility to think about EPR as an issue from the start of a product development, rather than thinking about it right at the end. Years ago, we could have thought about EPR or technical issues to do with products and sustainability right at the end of the process, almost as a checklist. Whereas now if we’re not thinking about it from the start something’s gone very wrong.”
For brands and suppliers alike, this means considering packaging’s environmental impact, practical requirements and end-of-life implications from the outset. It also means allowing enough time to assess options, gather the necessary data and get decisions right, rather than leaving sustainability considerations until the final stages.
- Treat regulation as a catalyst for innovation
As sustainability expectations evolve, businesses have an opportunity to rethink established approaches to packaging and develop innovative solutions that respond to both regulatory requirements and consumer demands.
For brands and suppliers, this means going beyond compliance to help shape what comes next. Will explained that the innovation required today looks very different from a few years ago, with EPR and consumer expectations driving the need for more groundbreaking approaches.
As he put it: “With EPR you have to be ahead of the curve, but we actually have to create the curve ourselves.”
While pioneering new approaches can feel frustrating when others have yet to follow, Will emphasised that it is ultimately “the right place to be.”
For luxury businesses, this is an opportunity to challenge convention, rethink packaging design and develop solutions that balance responsibility with quality and desirability.
- Rethink how teams work – and break down silos
Sustainability cannot operate in isolation from the teams responsible for product development, procurement and communications. Yet responsibilities are not always aligned: the person buying packaging may not be the person overseeing EPR reporting. At the same time, marketing teams may be responsible for sustainability claims without having the necessary information at their fingertips.
For Gadsby, responding to these challenges has meant developing stronger client partnerships and expanding its in-house capabilities as a supplier.
As Will explained: “We’re brought on board very much as a partner to work throughout the whole process. We’ve definitely changed our own team to be more design-led rather than just logistics and sourcing and technical heavy. But adding that sort of end-to-end ability is definitely a big win for us in the last few years.”
Gadsby also involves their marketing team in their sustainability certification processes to ensure the team members talking about sustainability genuinely understand what has been done and can advocate for it.
Ultimately, closer collaboration between teams enables sustainability considerations to inform decisions earlier and helps ensure that the people communicating a product’s credentials understand the work behind them.
- Use certification to communicate sustainability with confidence
The EU’s Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive (ECGT) strengthens consumer protection around greenwashing and sustainability labels. As discussed during the podcast, businesses marketing to EU consumers need to pay close attention to how they communicate their environmental credentials and ensure their claims are supported by appropriate evidence.
For brands and suppliers doing meaningful work behind the scenes, the challenge is often communicating it clearly and accurately. Will described how Gadsby uses certification to make its efforts more visible:
“We use certification as a tool to show the work that’s going on behind the scenes… It’s very tricky to eloquently explain these things sometimes. And the best option is just certification.”
He added that certification offers a clear reference points: “It’s a single mark, a single label, that gives you that source of truth for it.”
Olivia emphasised that certification should sit alongside a wider commitment to accuracy and accountability: “I think it’s really important for brands to be auditing what they’re saying… making sure that it’s correct, working with the right partners as well.”
For luxury businesses, the priority is to audit their claims, work with the right partners and ensure that the evidence supports the message. Independent assessment can help make complex sustainability efforts easier to communicate, while giving consumers a clearer basis on which to evaluate their commitments.
- Get ahead of change – and give suppliers time to get it right
Regulatory expectations and consumer demands are evolving quickly, and businesses that begin adapting early can be better positioned to respond. However, getting ahead requires more than awareness: it means reviewing internal processes, strengthening supplier relationships, and allowing sufficient time for responsible decisions.
Will highlighted the importance of extending development timelines where necessary, giving suppliers the time to ensure “things are done right rather than just being done just on time.”
While the transition may require a shift in established ways of working, businesses that invest in innovation, reliable data and collaborative supplier relationships now can build capabilities that support long-term resilience and create a commercial advantage.
IN SUMMARY
EPR and ECGT are changing how luxury businesses must approach packaging, product development and sustainability communication. But the discussion at London Packaging Week highlighted that these developments should not be viewed solely as compliance challenges.
By considering packaging impacts earlier, investing in innovation, bringing teams together and using credible evidence to support sustainability claims, brands and suppliers can turn regulatory change into an opportunity to strengthen their operations, relationships, and desirability.
Ultimately, competitive advantage comes from staying ahead of the curve and demonstrating measurable progress, not simply promising it.
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