Supermarkets undermine recycling efforts by providing too much food packaging

1.01.00am GMT Sat 28th Feb 2009

Markets like Oxford's Covered Market provide the most recyclable packaging

Excessive food packaging used by supermarkets is undermining consumers' efforts to recycle, and is adding to landfill costs and council tax bills, a new survey has found. The survey went on to name and shame the worst offenders. Said Oxford City Council Lib Dem spokesman Cllr Chris Scanlan: "Each one of us is trying to help increase the amount of waste which can be recycled. With this information, we can now decide where we shop. It is disappointing that some supermarkets are not really trying to help reduce the waste going to landfill."

The survey, carried out by the British Market Research Bureau for the Local Government Association (LGA) is the third which they have done. It found that while the weight of the packaging has reduced, the amount which cannot be recycled has stayed at almost 40% over the last two years.

The cost to local councils of disposing of the landfill tax paid to dispose of packaging is estimated at £1.8 billion in the next three years. Council leaders are calling for supermarkets to pay towards the collection of packaging as an incentive to cut back.

The report found that:

• Waitrose had the heaviest packaging

• Lidl had the least amount of packaging that can be easily recycled

• Tesco had the lightest total packaging

• Sainsbury's had the highest amount of recyclable material among supermarkets (at 67%)

• In the last two years, Marks & Spencer has improved from second worst to second best for overall packaging weight.

• Markets performed best, with the joint highest level of recyclability, 79 per cent, and the second-lowest weight, mainly because of the practice of wrapping fresh produce in paper bags. Local retailers also had 79 per cent recyclability but the weight was in the middle of the range.

LGA chairman Cllr Margaret Eaton said: "At a time when shoppers are feeling the pinch, we need to move away from a world that tolerates clingfilmed coconuts and shrink-wrapped tins of baked beans. If we had less unnecessary packaging it would cut costs and lead to lower prices at the tills. When packaging is sent to landfill, it's expensive for taxpayers and damaging for the environment."

Cllr Eaton added: "Supermarkets need to up their game so it's easier for people to do their bit for the environment, Taxpayers don't want to see their money going towards landfill taxes and EU fines when council tax could be reduced instead."

Lib Dem MP Jo Swinson presented a Bill to Parliament setting out measures to cut excess packaging. It calls for the establishment of a national body to promote and enforce packaging reduction; for consumers to be given powers to put packaging in supermarket bins for recycling; for improvements to packaging regulations and legally binding targets to reduce levels. The MP said: "It makes no environmental sense to over-package products and no economic sense to charge frustrated consumers for packaging they don't need. The Government's attempts to tackle the problem have been too timid and too slow."

A spokesman for the British Retail Consortium said the LGA survey failed to acknowledge the importance of packaging in preserving food and therefore reducing waste.

For more information visit the LGA site http://www.lga.gov.uk/lga/core/page.do?pageId=1613897