By Toby Pickard
Even now, with a global pandemic and the economic forecast looking poor, food packaging and waste is rarely out of media headlines.

Campaigns by national newspapers and pressure groups have focused consumer and government attention on the areas of over-packaging, resource efficiency and the UK’s throwaway society – personified in the media by the dreaded single use plastic bag!

Missing the point
However, as with most things, there is more to this than meets the eye. According to INCPEN* ‘plastic carrier bags make up a tiny proportion of litter or waste - less than 0.1% of litter - and only 0.3% of the household waste that goes to landfill.’ With plastic bags contributing to such a small amount of landfill, is the media and government attention that this issue receives justified? This is especially worth considering since industry has been working with government on reducing the amount of plastic bags they give out since 2007.

Justin King, Sainsbury’s chief executive, believes not. He was quoted in the Sunday Times saying: ‘People bang on about the number of plastic bags, but that totally misses the point. What’s important is the environmental impact of the bags, not how many you have.’

He has a very valid point, too often the focus of attention seems to miss the bigger picture. Obviously, the reduction of single use plastic bags will be a good thing, but it is not going to achieve the reductions in resource use and waste that are required. However, what it will hopefully do is raise consumer awareness of unnecessary and/or avoidable wastefulness.

Consumer concern and confusion
IGD’s research has shown that consumers are engaged when it comes to excess packaging, as it does influence their purchasing decisions. Our consumer research has also shown that around six in ten (59%) shoppers admit to a high level of self-confessed uncertainty regarding recycling, with a third (34%) stating that they are not sure exactly what they are able to recycle. Both of these statistics highlight the need for great consumer education.

Industry has come together to try and address this. At the beginning of 2009 retailers and manufacturers worked together to produce a new universal on-pack recycling logo.

Leading food and drink companies and retailers, including ASDA, Sainsbury’s and Tesco, have all signed up to the standard on-pack recycling label. The label will allow consumers to view product and material recycling information more easily.

New on-pack recycling label
The on pack recycling labelThe on-pack recycling label scheme aims to deliver a simpler, UK-wide, consistent recycling message on both retailer private label and brand-owner packaging to help consumers recycle more material, more often. The label design is based on WRAP’s Recycle Now swoosh, which is used by over 90% of local authorities, and recognised by 67% of the population.

reverse vending machine

On-the-go recycling
The industry is not only helping consumers recycling at home, but they are starting to encourage shoppers to recycle on-the-go.

For example, working with WRAP and the recycling charity RECOUP, GSK identified two areas where they could make a tangible difference to the issue of packaging and waste.

They switched to 100% recycled PET material for the Ribena bottle range. They also started to support a reliable, sustainable and UK-based source of the recycled resin needed for this packaging.

One way in which they are driving this is with an innovative ‘reverse vending’ trial in partnership with RECOUP. The reverse vending machine collects empty PET bottles from ‘on-the-go’ consumption in high footfall areas. The machines identify, sort, collect and process used beverage containers.

Raising the bar
Even with industry being so engaged and innovative when it comes to waste reduction and increased resource efficiency they are being asked to deliver more. A new strategy for dealing with waste packaging in England has been developed - set within the framework provided by the Waste Strategy for England (2007) - and was published on 9th June 2009, called 'Making the most of packaging'.

The new strategy published by Defra, BIS and the Devolved Administrations sets out a clear direction for packaging policy for the next ten years.
The overall aim of the packaging strategy is to reduce the environmental impact of packaging, without compromising its ability to protect the product.

To make this happen, government will work with a range of delivery bodies and industry so that in ten years’ time, packaging is designed to use as little material as will do the job, and with re-usability, recyclability or recovery in mind – as standard.

The strategy also sets out plans to improve the recycling of packaging waste, particularly glass, plastics and aluminium, with a focus on the household waste stream and on quality. The intention is to ensure that over time the UK achieves a recycling rate similar to the best EU performers (source: Defra).
Need to know more?

The packaging and food waste agenda is progressing rapidly. Achieving packaging optimisation, while maintaining performance and delivering increased environmental credentials, is a complex balancing act. As businesses and government engage in the waste agenda through an increasing focus on packaging and resource efficiency, IGD will bring the industry together to address the economic and environmental benefits this can bring.

To gain first-hand insight about the food and grocery industry’s packaging and waste strategies, book your place now for IGD's Packaging & Product Resource Efficiency conference in October this year.

*INCPEN is a UK based non-profit organisation dedicated to analysing the environmental and social effects of packaging, creating a better understanding of the role of packaging and minimising the environmental impact of packaging.

Toby Pickard is a Business Analyst for the Industry Development Team at IGD. His work focuses on sustainability related topics that impact the food and grocery sector. He is responsible for much of the content on IGD’s free on-line Sustainability information service.

He also helps manage IGD’s Carbon Footprinting Industry Working Group which has been formed to help assure a single fit for purpose methodology for assessing embedded greenhouse gases emissions.






Related Information…
Best Practice Case Studies
See what other companies in the food & grocery industry are doing with our best practice case studies.
Related event…
Packaging & Product Resource Efficiency
22 October 2009, London
This event is designed to help businesses implement the best solutions to packaging and product optimisation. The conference will also provide insight into future government and industry waste strategies and help the food and grocery supply chain prepare for these changes.
To find out further information and to book your place, click here.