Suzanne Johnston, Founder and Director at PS Partnerships, kickstarts BP&R’s new woman-led column series, highlighting the importance of regulatory compliance for businesses across the supply chain.
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Is it too late to make a New Year’s resolution?
Every January, we make promises to ourselves to eat healthier, exercise more, or tackle a long-delayed project. Resolutions are not just for individuals, but they can be transformative for businesses, too, if we stick to them.
For the plastics and rubber industry, 2026 should be the year of a collective resolution to embrace regulatory compliance as a cornerstone of resilience and reputation, and not as a burden.
Compliance is more than a tick box exercise; it’s the discipline that underpins trust, innovation and competitiveness. Making it part of your cultural identity builds credibility with customers, regulators and suppliers, signalling that you’re serious, reliable and prepared for the future.
Resolutions often fail because they are too vague or unrealistic. ‘I’ll be healthier’ means very little without a plan. Similarly, ‘we’ll comply’ is hollow unless backed up with concrete actions. In the plastics and rubber industries, the resolution to embrace compliance requires:
•Audit and gap analysis, conducting regular reviews of processes, materials and supply chains against current and upcoming regulations
•Training and awareness, ensuring staff at all levels understand compliance obligations and their role in meeting them
•Documentation discipline, maintaining clear and accurate records of compliance activities, certifications and audits
•Partnerships, working with experts who understand complex regulations, anticipate changes and design practical compliance strategies
The regulatory environment can be complex. UK rules often diverge from EU directives, and global customers demand compliance with international regulations and standards. The UK’s Plastic Packaging Tax and EPR scheme place obligations on producers, while the EU’s PPWR sets strict recyclability and reuse requirements. For businesses, this can feel like navigating a maze. However, complexity should be no deterrent to resolution. Just as individuals overcome setbacks by adjusting their approach, businesses must be agile.
As 2026 begins, imagine an industry that treats compliance as a badge of honour and not a grudging necessity. Boardrooms where regulatory updates are discussed with the same priority as financial results, production floors where compliance checks are celebrated as achievements and supply chains where transparency is the norm.
At PS Partnerships, our resolution is clear: to guide, challenge and support the industry in making compliance a requirement that puts you in pole position. When we look back at 2026, will we see opportunities missed and our main competitors getting further ahead, or our reputations strengthened and our share of the market growing? Let’s all make a resolution for the latter.