Supermarkets Must Use Less Plastic Packaging Say Campaigners

Fruit n’ Veg = Paper and Cardboard

Some supermarkets, such as Marks and Spencer and Morrisons, are shifting back to paper and cardboard for fruit and vegetable packaging.
But in others, such as Tesco, many of the fruit and vegetables are still wrapped up in plastic. The problem is made significantly worse because not all plastics are equal. A single material plastic can be easily recycled, but laminated layers of different plastics can’t and there is no way of telling just from looking at them. Black plastic trays are also non-recyclable because the infrared sorting machines in recycling centres can’t recognise them.
Simon Ellin, chairman of the Recycling Association, told Belong that, while we should produce much less plastic in the first place, some plastics, used responsibly, are fine, and can have significant benefits.
“All we need to do is reduce the number of polymers, design for recyclability, clearly label them and make it mandatory for councils to collect them,” said Ellin.
But if a universal recycling system is to be introduced, the only way to pay for it is to make the companies that make plastic cough up for the recycling costs of their own products.

Manufacturers Should Pay for Recycling

At the moment under the Packaging Recovery Note system, companies only have to pay about 10% of recycling costs, but under the new proposal being considered by Defra, plastic manufacturers would have to pay 100%.
Ellin says this is crucial to increasing the amount of plastic that is recycled.
“They are advocating Extended Producer Responsibility where the producer pays for 100% of the lifecycle of their packaging products – they are also advocating the produce pays principle where the less recyclable it is, the more they pay,” he said.
Ellin says there also needs to be a decision among retailers on if plastic really is the best option for keeping food products fresh.
“We also need proper scientific research on if plastic packaging actually keeps products fresher for longer – WRAP did a study and found that there was no difference in most of the fruit and veg they tested. Paper is infinitely recyclable and not harmful if it gets littered,” said Ellin.
But in other cases, Ellin warned, food contamination of paper and cardboard cannot be so easily washed off.
Peake agreed and says that more thought needs to go into what food is packaged in because it all has an environmental impact.
“Getting rid of plastic pollution is obviously very, very vital. But you can’t just think that “Oh, if it’s not plastic, then it’s OK”. Because they all result potentially in pollution, in carbon gases, or land problems,” she said.]]>

About
Latest Posts

Edward Cowley

Journalist at Truly Belong

Edward Cowley has been a journalist for over ten years.

Edward has been a news reporter in Moscow and has written features for the Sunday Times and the Moscow Times.

Some of the places he has worked at include RT (Russia Today) and BBC World.As well as Russia and the former CIS, Edward specialises on the environment and has directed a half hour film on the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster.

At Belong, Edward has developed a strong environmental slant for the magazine, including a series of features focussing on environmental problems. The environment affects all of us and Belong is a magazine with an international outlook, with stories from all around the world.