IN Brief:
- Tarmac is introducing 80% recycled plastic packaging across much of its Blue Circle and ready-to-use range.
- The upgraded bags cover around 80% of packed products, including Mastercrete and Postcrete.
- The rollout follows a 15-month development programme and extensive trials at Tunstead Cement Works.
Tarmac is rolling out packaging made with 80% recycled plastic across a large proportion of its Blue Circle packed cement and ready-to-use product range.
The updated packaging will be used across around 80% of Tarmac’s bagged products, including Mastercrete and Postcrete. New Mastercrete and Postcrete packaging entering the supply chain will display “80% Recycled” on the bag.
The rollout follows a 15-month development programme that included extensive on-site trials at Tunstead Cement Works, Tarmac’s largest packed products facility. More than half a million bags were tested to confirm that the new packaging maintained strength, durability, handling performance, and product protection.
Tarmac said customers should see no difference in product performance or handling. The bags have already been supplied to customers since the second quarter of last year through a phased introduction designed to use trial materials and avoid unnecessary waste.
The project was delivered with RKW Group, a long-term packaging supplier that has worked with Tarmac for more than 20 years. The companies have previously collaborated on valve sacks and have continued to develop packaging improvements for packed building products.
Bagged cement and ready-to-use products face a difficult packaging brief. Bags must protect dry powder and mixes from moisture, survive merchant storage, withstand transport, remain manageable on site, and avoid splitting during handling. A higher recycled-content bag only reduces waste if it performs reliably in normal trade conditions.
The scale of the testing programme reflects that operational reality. Recycled-content targets can be undermined if packaging failures lead to product loss, damaged stock, rejected deliveries, or contamination. For merchants and contractors, bag strength is directly linked to stock control, site cleanliness, manual handling, and disposal costs.
The move also shows how building materials suppliers are extending sustainability work beyond the material itself. Cement and concrete decarbonisation is often discussed through clinker reduction, alternative binders, carbon capture, lower-carbon mixes, and specification reform, but packaging remains a high-volume and visible part of the supply chain.
Regulatory and commercial pressure is reinforcing that shift. Plastic Packaging Tax, corporate reporting, client procurement rules, and site waste reduction targets are all pushing suppliers to reduce virgin plastic use. Packaging may not be the largest carbon component of a cementitious product, but it is one of the most widely handled and scrutinised parts of distribution.
Materials producers are also having to provide clearer evidence for environmental claims. As construction product regulation and procurement standards place more weight on traceability, recycled content and carbon data need to be precise, verifiable, and compatible with merchant and site processes.
The packaging rollout sits alongside a wider movement in lower-carbon materials. Work on cement-free concrete development and lower-carbon concrete supply shows how suppliers are working across binders, mix design, recycled inputs, and operational changes rather than relying on a single route to reduce impact.
For contractors, the practical appeal is that higher recycled-content packaging does not require a change to specification, storage, or installation. Unlike alternative binders or new concrete mixes, a bagging change can reduce virgin plastic use without altering how the product is used on site.
Construction still generates large quantities of packaging waste through pallets, wraps, sacks, tubs, cartridges, protective films, and fixings. Some packaging is essential for product performance, but it creates costs, handling demands, and disposal challenges once materials reach site. Changes made by large suppliers can therefore produce cumulative gains when applied across national distribution networks.
Tarmac’s move from 50% to 80% recycled plastic in much of its packed range shows how incremental changes can become standard practice once manufacturing, packaging supply, transport, merchants, and customers have proved the product works at scale.
The broader direction for materials suppliers is clear. Product performance, carbon reporting, packaging waste, recycled content, and supply-chain transparency are increasingly being judged together. A cement bag is only one component in that system, but when multiplied across millions of packed products, it becomes a material supply-chain decision with measurable operational weight.
