Councils blame supermarkets for £1.8bn cost of excess packaging
Digg
del.icio.us
Facebook
Reddit
Google
Stumble Upon
Fark
Newsvine
YahooBuzz
Bebo
Twitter
Independent Minds
Supermarkets were blamed yesterday for wasteful packaging, adding an estimated £1.8bn to council tax bills.
Local authority leaders claimed that recycling efforts are being undermined and argued that retailers should be forced to reveal publicly the amount of packaging they produce; rubbish that is adding millions of pounds to people's tax bills. They have written to Hilary Benn, the Secretary of State for the Environment, calling for the information to be published every three months so shoppers can "see hard evidence to back up supermarkets' claims that they are taking the problem of packaging seriously". Although supermarkets record the amount of packaging they use with the Government's waste reduction body, Wrap, only three stores – Morrisons, Waitrose and Marks & Spencer – responded to requests by the Local Government Association (LGA) for the details to be made public.
Wrap provided details about how it verified figures but failed to disclose packaging data on individual supermarkets, the LGA said.
Councillor Margaret Eaton, LGA chairman, said: "Supermarkets must be open with people about how much packaging they are producing. It is vital consumers can make informed choices about where they shop and which products they buy. They need to see hard evidence to back up the claims of supermarkets that they are taking the problem of packaging seriously... and that their claims to be cutting packaging are real."
View all comments that have been posted about this article.
Offensive or abusive comments will be removed and your IP logged and may be used to prevent further submission. In submitting a comment to the site, you agree to be bound by the Independent Minds Terms of Service.
- Print Article
- Email Article
-
Click here for copyright permissions
Copyright 2009 Independent News and Media Limited
Comments
At the end of the day, as it is with 99.99999% of life, it is about money. Spend the least you can get away with, and make the most. From the individual to the corporation to the establishment.
All complicated by 'systems' that have evolved over decades if not centuries, and which only now are being required to make radical adjustments. And as most will appreciate, with complex systems a tweak here can have 'consequences' there.
It's interesting to ponder what a supermarket publishing the amount of packaging they produce will do to help me with my decisions. Or what goes in my bin. The stuff is either necessary, or it is not. And seemingly ignores the brands whose products sit upon those shelves too. Not all in my basket is own label.
It seems quite simple, and that is an attempt to push costs from one place to another. But at the end of the day if it goes from my rate demand to my shopping bill the same person ends up paying.
Now, if there is a way for me to influence what I pay downwards via decisions based on packaging impositions then I can see a glimmer of an end-benefit and hence value. But until there is a properly coordinated cradle to grave packaging materials creation/disposal system this mostly smacks of box-ticking and target-meeting to help public servants in LAs and quangos drive bonuses their way.
For something that costs the consuming public nothing, and then goes on to save both pocket and planet in a small way, may I commend Junkk.com to those who would like to do something proactive as others bicker.
It even offers rewards with a competition for neat reuse ideas on plastic at the moment!