Image: Duales System

Packaging producers must take responsibility for excess packaging, and help develop improved collection and more recycling facilities, says the UK Government’s new packaging strategy. It picks up on a call from the Local Government Association (LGA) to make retailers and manufacturers pay for the disposal of ‘unnecessary’ packaging.

Making the most of packaging lists actions the Government will take to reduce waste. These include encouraging eco-design (which can involve increasing the use of easier-to-recycle materials), promoting refillable and reusable packaging, and raising consumer awareness of packaging options. It will work with WRAP to identify priority areas for reductions, and advise on voluntary targets for companies to meet from 2010-15.

The Government will also consider imposing carbon-based targets for the entire packaging lifecycle, moving away from only measuring packaging weight.

Recycling rates

To boost the recycling rates of materials, the strategy outlines plans to increase collection of aluminium at workplaces and in public, collect more glass from commercial and industrial sources, and widen the range of plastics gathered.

The latter will be based on trials carried out by WRAP to explore the commercial aviability of mixed plastics packaging recycling. The organisation has launched a £2m competition to develop infrastructure and boost capacity for mixed plastics recycling. Its goal is for 500,000t of mixed plastics to be recycled every year by 2020.

The Government says phased expansions of plastics recycling infrastructure may be the way forward.

As well as getting packaging producers more involved in developing recycling systems, it would like to see funding for these facilities be made more transparent, and will introduce sanctions against those companies producing ‘unnecessary’ packaging.

This is in line with demands from the LGA. The group estimates that councils pay around £100m in landfill taxes for packaging waste.

It argues that pack manufacturers would cut back on over-production if they were financially incentivised to do so.

However, Stephen Robertson, Director General of the British Retail Consortium, argues that talk of enforcement, is a ‘distraction’.

He says, ‘The idea that retailers pointlessly swathe goods in unnecessary packaging is a myth,’ and instead agreed with the call for greater investments in kerbside collections and improved recycling rates.

Further information: Defra, BRC and the Local Government Association