U.K. Govt. Requests Stores Disclose Packaging
The U.K.’s Local Government Association (LGA) is insisting that grocers take waste management one step further. In addition to developing programs to recycle waste, the LGA is calling on supermarkets to log packaging reports and make it available to the public.
Major U.K. grocer, Tesco, is committing to a 15 percent reduction in packaging by 2010. Photo: Planettran.wordpress.com
According to BBC News, the LGA argues that consumers need to be informed about the impact of the products they buy and requires retailers to be open about packaging.
The LGA is pushing for an agreement that would reduce grocery packaging by 100,000 tonnes (more than 220 million pounds) before next year.
In a rebuttal letter, manufacturers and retailers claim that the issue is not how much packaging is produced, but the availability of local recycling.
The British Retail Consortium and the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) previously suggested that all packaging be labeled with how likely it is to be accepted for recycling.
Earlier this year, the LGA released a report that 40 percent of grocery waste is not easily recyclable. This represents almost $50 per ton in disposal costs. When the organization reviewed grocers on the packaging volume of 29 common products, Tesco had the least and Waitrose the most.
Retailers are also pointing out that packaging is used to prolong the life of food, which would generate less organic waste. In the case of paper, the packaging is generally deemed unrecyclable if it protects food with oils because the oil stains are difficult to remove during paper recycling.
The retailer Sainsbury’s, which was already recognized as having the most recyclable packaging in LGA’s study, has committed to a 33 percent packaging reduction by 2015.
