We are beginning to announce the first wave of speakers for the Products of Change Conference on 11 November 2026 at the Royal Geographical Society, London.

One such company is The Works, represented by Matthew Graham, head of quality assurance, sourcing & sustainability, and Sam Meyrick, sustainability manager.

Sustainability has increasingly become embedded within how POC Member, The Works, operates, rather than being treated as a separate workstream. In the last few years, it has strengthened its governance, expanded dedicated sustainability, quality assurance and sourcing resource, and aligned sustainability more closely with its commercial teams so that environmental and ethical considerations are incorporated into everyday decision-making and our broader business ESG Planet strategy. 

Matthew and Sam will delve into this in more detail on-stage at the Conference, but you can get a glimpse into the conversation in the Q&A we had with the team below:

Can you give us a sneak peek at what you will be discussing and sharing at the POC Conference? What will be the focus of your presentation?

Our session is titled “Turning Regulation into Opportunity” and that’s exactly what we’ll explore.

Rather than focusing solely on regulatory compliance, we’ll share how requirements such as Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) are acting as catalysts for wider business improvement. Regulations often arrive with cost and complexity attached, but they can also create opportunities to improve packaging design, strengthen supplier relationships, enhance data quality and drive better decision-making across a business.

We’ll discuss how The Works has approached EPR and wider sustainability challenges as cross-functional business projects involving internal colleagues across our sustainability, quality assurance, sourcing, buying, creative, as well as our dedicated supplier partners. We’ll share some of the practical lessons we’ve learned, the successes we’ve achieved and some of the challenges we’ve faced along the way.

Ultimately, the session is about demonstrating how sustainability can create commercial value when it is connected to business strategy rather than treated simply as a compliance obligation.

What do you hope attendees get from your presentation? What would you like them to take away and how do you think you can inspire or teach other businesses from the work you have been doing?

The key message we hope attendees take away is that sustainability doesn’t have to be perfect to be meaningful.

Many businesses are facing resource constraints, increasing regulatory requirements and competing commercial pressures. We’ve certainly experienced that ourselves. We want to show that progress is achievable when you start with practical actions and focus on embedding sustainability into existing business processes rather than creating entirely new structures.

If attendees leave with one takeaway, it would be that regulation can be a powerful driver for innovation and collaboration. By looking beyond compliance and asking “what opportunities does this create?”, organisations can unlock benefits that improve both environmental outcomes and business performance.

We also hope our story resonates because we’re approaching these challenges from the perspective of a value retailer. Not every organisation has large sustainability teams or unlimited budgets, so we believe there is value in sharing a realistic and pragmatic journey that others can relate to. 

What are some of the challenges or hurdles you have faced? Perhaps company specific but maybe also wider and industry specific?

One of the biggest challenges across the industry is the pace and volume of regulatory change. Businesses are simultaneously responding to new and evolving compliance requirements which often diverge across territories. It can often be difficult to know where to focus effort and investment and can feel overwhelming.

Another challenge is data. Effective sustainability decision-making depends on having accurate product, packaging and supply chain information, but collecting and validating that data across complex global supply chains is often easier said than done.

For example, as part of our EPR journey we’ve been trialling support from Ecoveritas to work with suppliers on packaging data collection. That experience has reinforced just how important supplier collaboration and robust data management are to meeting regulatory obligations successfully.

From a retailer perspective, there is also the challenge of balancing sustainability ambitions with customer affordability. At The Works, our mission is to be the favourite destination for affordable, screen-free activities for the whole family, which means providing value remains central to our proposition, so we’re constantly looking for solutions that deliver environmental improvements without compromising customer value.

Finally, sustainability fundamentally isn’t the sole responsibility of sustainability teams and professionals to deliver. Success requires engagement across the entire business, and this often requires a cultural shift. Building that understanding and alignment takes time, but it’s essential if sustainability is going to become part of everyday decision-making, and for us it’s about understanding how that fuels our wider brand purpose – to inspire reading, learning, creativity and play.

What do you hope to get from the Conference yourselves as a business? Why is the POC Conference the right platform for the conversation you are bringing?

One of the reasons we value Products of Change is its focus on collaboration across the network, irrespective of the type, size and positioning of business. The sustainability challenges facing our industry are often too large and too complex for any one organisation to solve independently.

We’re looking forward to learning from peers, sharing experiences and hearing how other organisations are approaching similar regulatory and sustainability challenges. Some of the most valuable insights often come from honest conversations about what’s working, what isn’t and where common challenges exist.

The POC Conference is the ideal platform for this discussion because it brings together retailers, brands, licensors, manufacturers and sustainability specialists from across the value chain. Our presentation focuses on the intersection of sustainability, sourcing, product development and regulation, which are topics affecting virtually every organisation represented at the conference.

Ultimately, we hope the session contributes to a wider conversation about how our industry can move from seeing regulation as a burden to seeing it as an opportunity to drive innovation, resilience and long-term value.

Book your tickets or get more information on the Products of Change Conference here. Or contact hello@productsofchange.com with any of your questions.