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On behalf of Dacorum Environmental Forum, Gruff Edwards gave a presentation on packaging to
the DBC Environmental Overview and Scrutiny committee on March 11th, 2008. The presentation
was well received by the O&S committee which backed all the suggestions wholeheartedly. To
read the presentation please click here
The recent Local Government Association report compares the
performance of the major retailers, and could be used as a basis for
encouraging local action by the Borough Council and by retailers and
their customers.
To view the LGA packaging report click here.
Each year the UK generates about 30 million tonnes of waste from households,
most of which ends up in landfill. Britain dumps more household waste into landfill
than most other countries in the European Union (around three-quarters of its
municipal waste goes to landfill; only Portugal and Greece put more there).
The objective of this research is to inform the Local Government Association's 'War on
Waste' campaign, which seeks to address the amount of rubbish produced and the
way in which it is thrown away. This study will monitor food packaging levels in
terms of amount of packaging (including in relation to volume of food) and
composition of that packaging (for example, whether the packaging is recyclable).
A range of common food items (29 items), representing a regular shopping basket
were purchased from eight retailers (six supermarkets - ASDA, Lidl, Marks and
Spencer, Morrisons, Sainsbury's and Tesco - a local high street and a large market).
Analysis involved recording the total weight of the product and recording the total
weight of the packaging. The component parts of the packaging were weighed
separately to measure the proportion of packaging that was recyclable or rubbish.
An estimate of the volume of the food in relation to the packaging was also
provided, to consider cases of excessive packaging. Photographs of the shopping
baskets were taken before analysis and of the piles of waste created.
· The total weight of packaging per basket ranged from 684.5 grams to 799.5
grams, with an average weight of 748.5 grams.
· The proportion of waste that was recyclable ranged from 60% to 79%.
· There were some items on the shopping list that appeared to be somewhat
over-packaged, such as shrink-wrapping on peppers and broccoli, or excessive
layers of packaging, or packaging that was much larger than the contents of the
product and had low volume measures, for example, cornflakes, meat,
tomatoes and crisps.
· Often packaging of fruit and vegetables comprised plastic bags although one
retailer did provide paper bags. This is an approach that could be taken by more
retailers to improve the proportion of their waste that is recyclable.
· The majority of packaging on the meat products was rubbish.
· The packaging on a fresh pizza varied between retailers from a simple
cardboard box or a cardboard base and shrink-wrapping - both good approaches
- to a pizza with a plastic or polystyrene base, shrink-wrapped and contained in
a box. While the cardboard box is recyclable, the number of layers in these
cases was perhaps excessive.
· The plastic tubes provide sufficient packaging for the cookies but in some cases
a tray was also part of the packaging, providing further waste in an additional
layer of packaging that could be considered unnecessary. Retailers could also
focus on reducing the size of the packaging in relation to the volume of the
product, to reduce the quantities of waste produced.
· The market set a good example by providing a loaf of bread in a paper bag,
whilst the seven other retailers had wrapped the bread in a plastic film or plastic
bag.
· The baked beans, jam and milk came in the same form of packaging from all
retailers: a can for the beans, a glass jar for the jam and a plastic bottle for the
milk. Apart from the tops on the jar and milk bottle, the packaging for these
products were all recyclable.
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