In its third survey of the food packaging found in a typical basket of shopping, the LGA found that almost 40% of supermarket food packaging cannot be easily recycled.
The British Market Research Bureau was commissioned by the LGA to look at eight supermarkets and the weight of food packaging they use in a typical shopping basket.
The survey found that Waitrose had the heaviest packaging (802.5g) and Lidl had the lowest level of packaging that could be easily recycled at 58%. Sainsbury’s came out on top with the highest level of packaging that could be easily recycled at 67%.
According to the report, landfill tax costs councils £32 for every tonne of rubbish they throw away, a figure that will rise to £48 a tonne by 2010.
Chairwoman of the LGA, Cllr Margaret Eaton, said: “If retailers create unnecessary rubbish, they should help taxpayers by paying for it to be recycled.”
The LGA is calling on the government to make retailers responsible for funding the collection of packaging so they have a direct incentive to produce less.
In a response to the survey, the British Retail Consortium released a statement challenging local authorities to make positive moves to encourage recycling, rather than looking for ways to pile new costs onto hard-pressed customers and retailers.
The BRC also stated that the survey failed to acknowledge the key role packaging plays in preserving food and thereby reducing waste. The Consortium said that many local authorities are failing to recycle materials that can be recycled.
Bob Gordon, the BRC’s head of environment, said: “It’s nonsense to suggest that retailers swathe their goods in masses of unnecessary packaging. This would simply be a pointless cost. Packaging reduces waste by protecting and preserving products.
“The LGA is right to say that the overall weight of food packaging has been reduced. Retailers are working towards more sustainable packaging, using less material and more recycled content. Stores reward and encourage recycling. They also offer a variety of recycling facilities where practical.
“Retailers pay more than £5bn a year in business rates towards local authority funding. The biggest barrier to recycling is local authorities’ failure to agree on which materials they’re prepared to recycle.”
An article published by Public Service, the UK’s public sector information portal, claims the food and drink industry cut the amount of food packaging by about 70,000 tonnes in 2008, with Cadbury, Mars and Nestlé reducing Easter egg packaging by 25%.
© FoodBev Media Ltd 2024