Call for greener approach to food packaging
30 Nov 2007
A framework for making all food packaging recyclable or compostable by 2013 has been unveiled by environmental charity Green Alliance.
The organisation has laid out a range of measures to encourage food manufacturers, retailers, local authorities and waste companies to make their products more sustainable.
In particular, it is calling for packaging producers to make their packaging either recyclable or compostable and for retailers to specify this in their purchasing decisions, as well as simplify the range packaging materials they use with regards to plastics in particular and develop clear labelling.
Local authorities meanwhile should provide consumers with home composting bins if they have gardens, or food and compostable packaging collections if they do not, alongside "comprehensive" kerbside recycling services, it said.
The organisation also explained that central government will need to take on a leading role, by ensuring that councils and retailers worked to common standards, and that waste management firms should develop "integrated recycling and composting" infrastructure to help reprocess the material.
Stephen Hale, Green Alliance director, said: "Consumers want to be greener but need help to reduce their waste and carbon footprint. Yet 18% of household waste in the UK is food and a further 20% is packaging, for which landfill is no longer an option. Manufactureres, retailers, local authorities and waste companies can, and must, do more to help householders do the right thing."
Green Alliance's 2013 target comes after extensive discussions with retailers and other partners to produce guidance on the use of compostable packaging.
Designed to clear up confusion on when best to use compostable packaging as opposed to recyclable packaging, the document includes a flow chart to help manufacturers decide.
The document is supported by Marks and Spencer, Sainsburys, Boots, the Industry Council for Packaging and the Environment (INCPEN) and the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee (LARAC).
Lee Marshall, chair of LARAC, said: "Local authorities are under huge pressure to help people reduce their waste and recycle, but food packaging can be confusing to people. This guidance will help simplify matters."
