Let’s make this Christmas a time for positive action on packaging waste as we follow the lead from female pioneers such as entrepreneur Jo Chidley

It is nearing Christmas and across Scotland we are gifting and wrapping and placing beautifully presented parcels under twinkling trees. There is always a small thrill in choosing paper that feels right in the hand or arranging ribbon that curls just so. Packaging holds meaning in this season. It helps tell the story of care and anticipation. But packaging is also a serious part of business, and next year in January 2026 everything about how we manage it is going to change through the introduction of Extended Producer Responsibility.

This green strategy is not new to me. I have championed it for years because I have seen first hand what happens when we do not account for the true impact of the materials we use. At COP26 I stood beside the exhibit I co created, Generation of Waste, a stark and urgent exploration of the mountains of discarded textiles produced by this industry. I have lobbied government for a system that places responsibility at the beginning rather than the end, because waste is designed long before we ever see it. And in my own business at Beira, we built circularity into our packaging from day one, thinking inside the box rather than outside it. It was cheaper, kinder and more aligned with the Scotland I believe in.

This is why EPR matters. As the environmental data platform Our World in Data notes, “the global packaging........

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