We're interviewing 100+ leaders for the State of Zero-Waste Report 2026

Scrapp® is interviewing more than 100+ packaging, waste and recycling leaders for the State of Zero-Waste 2026 report, publishing this December. It's the third edition of our annual industry review, and the biggest yet. In 2024 we spoke to 32 leaders. This year we want triple that, and we'd like your view in it.

If you work in packaging, waste, recycling or sustainability operations, you can book a 45-minute interview or answer the 2-minute questionnaire further down this page.

Why are we running this report again?

Because the honest answers aren't in the annual reports.

Our first edition, The Road to Zero-Waste 2024, started from a simple observation: everyone publishes what they achieved, almost nobody publishes what's actually blocking them. So we asked. Thirty-two structured interviews later, we had a picture of the industry that no dataset could have given us on its own.

It worked well enough that we did it again in 2025 with The Race to Zero-Waste, a 28-day tracking challenge that found prevention outperforms recycling by 3.85x.

Two years on, the ground has moved. The EU's Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation applies from August 2026. Seven US states now have packaging EPR laws with live reporting deadlines. The UK's deposit return scheme arrives in October 2027. Everyone has an opinion on whether any of it is working. Almost nobody has asked 100 practitioners at once.

What did the 2024 report find?

Five findings from the first edition still shape how we think about this industry.

Waste barely registers in sustainability reporting. Of 14,841 companies that submitted ESG reports to the etOso database between 2023 and 2025, only 12% mentioned waste at all. Just 3.5% mentioned waste reduction. The movement has momentum, but the reporting is in its infancy.

Goals are being set faster than they're being met. Only 15% of companies with recyclability goals are expected to hit them, according to As You Sow.

Contamination is still the tax on every program. Rates sit around 21% in the UK and 25% in the US. Cross 5% contamination in a load and the whole bin can end up in landfill.

The barriers are consistent across every segment. Our interviewees named the same five, every time: education, lack of infrastructure, inaccurate data, lack of stakeholder engagement, and lack of budget. Not technology. Not ambition.

Reuse and compost are where the money is. Asked about the biggest opportunity over five years, leaders pointed to these two repeatedly, especially in closed-loop settings like stadiums, campuses and offices where return rates can be controlled.

The line that stuck with our team came from Zach Samaras: "You can't manage what you can't measure." Everything else in the report traced back to it.

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What is the State of Zero-Waste 2026 trying to do?

Three things:

Establish a benchmark. By asking the same core questions we asked in 2024, we can show what genuinely changed in two years rather than guessing. Is the business case stronger? Is data still the top barrier? Has the policy wave changed behaviour or just added paperwork?

Capture the nuance behind the numbers. A rating of 6 out of 10 on industry optimism tells you very little. The reason behind the 6 tells you everything. That's why this is built on conversations, not just a survey.

Cover the whole value chain. Packaging designers, waste operators, MRF managers, sustainability leads, council waste teams, venue operations, waste tech founders. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation puts the circular economy at a $4.5 trillion opportunity by 2030, and no single part of the chain can see all of it.

The report publishes at the end of December, free to download, as every Scrapp report has been.

Why should you take part?

Three reasons, all designed to bring awareness to the progress being made on zero-waste:

• Clips you can actually use. Our team edits the best moments of your interview into short, captioned videos and sends them to you first. Ready-made content for your own channels. Past interviewees told us this was the most useful part.
• You contribute to the biggest zero-waste report of the year. You'll be featured alongside 100+ peers, with your name and organisation credited, or anonymously if you'd rather.
• Your insights reach an engaged audience. The report goes out to a waste and sustainability readership that actually cares about the detail. Few of us get many chances to say what we really think about this industry to people who understand it.

You approve everything before it goes anywhere. If you say something you'd rather we cut, we cut it, no questions asked.

Who are we looking to interview?

You're a fit if your work touches packaging, waste or recycling. In practice that means:

• Packaging and EPR compliance teams at brands, retailers and manufacturers
• Waste and recycling operators, haulers, MRF managers and waste strategy specialists
• Sustainability, ESG and facilities leads responsible for operational waste
• Council, municipal and campus waste program managers
• Venue, stadium, events and hospitality operations teams
• Waste and circularity technology founders

You don't need polished answers or a flagship program. Some of the most useful conversations in 2024 came from people describing what hadn't worked.

Book your 45-minute interview — we're interviewing through to the end of November, so booking weeks or months ahead is completely fine.

Short on time? Take the 2-minute questionnaire

If 45 minutes isn't realistic, ten quick questions still get your view into the report. Same themes, a fraction of the time, and you can be credited as a contributor or stay anonymous.

Frequently asked questions

How long does the interview take?

Forty-five minutes, on a video call, recorded. We send you the five questions in advance so nothing catches you off guard. Most of it is conversation rather than interrogation, and we'll spend part of the time on your specific corner of the industry.

Can I stay anonymous?

Yes. You can contribute anonymously to both the interview and the questionnaire, and your data still counts toward the aggregate findings. Plenty of the most candid material in past editions came from people who preferred not to be named.

Do I need to prepare anything?

No. We send the questions ahead of time because considered answers make a better report, but there's no homework. No slides, no data pulls, no internal sign-off needed.

When does the report publish?

At the end of December 2026. Contributors get early access before it goes public, and everyone who takes part receives a copy directly.

What happens to my recording?

It's used for quotes in the report and short clips on our channels, and you get those clips for your own use. Nothing publishes without your approval.

Have your say

The State of Zero-Waste 2026 will be the most complete picture of this industry we've ever put together, and it's only as good as the people in it.

Book your interview here, or take the questionnaire above. If you'd rather talk about your own waste data instead, you can book a 15-minute call with our team.