Families unfairly targeted in UK drive to cut waste

British households are being unfairly targeted by the Government in the drive to cut refuse and other waste, an influential House of Lords committee warns today.

Robert Winnett, The Telegraph 19 Aug 08;

Ministers should focus their efforts on getting supermarkets and other businesses which are responsible for producing the vast majority of waste to cut back rather than "solely making demands of consumers".

The peers also express concern over the country's increasing "throwaway society" and urge that firms acting "irresponsibly" by creating unnecessary waste should be penalised financially.

Lord O'Neill, who headed the Lords inquiry, told The Daily Telegraph that British consumers faced "excessive packaging". He also accused supermarkets of being "overly cautious" when putting best-before dates on fresh food which was encouraging consumers to throw produce away prematurely.

Gordon Brown called on British households last month to reduce food waste but the latest analysis suggests that supermarkets must share the blame.

The House of Lords Science Committee has published its 127-page report amid growing public anger over draconian refuse collection rules. Millions of families across the country have lost their weekly rubbish collections yet face fines if they overfill bins or fail to recycle. Ministers are also trialling new "pay-as-you throw" bin taxes.

However, in today's report, the Lords argue that the Government is wrong to single out consumers for criticism and penalties as they are responsible for less than 10 per cent of Britain's waste.

Lord O'Neill, a former senior Labour MP, said: "The target regime for local authorities must be changed, so instead of a focus only on individuals' waste, priority is given to ensuring businesses are doing their bit to reduce waste. An important step would be to introduce true individual producer responsibility for waste associated with a company's products so manufacturers who behave irresponsibly face financial consequences and those who are doing the right thing are supported."

He added: "There is excessive packaging on a number of items - chocolate biscuits, Easter eggs and so on - and people should be alerted to the fact that this is not an efficient way for businesses to operate. Wasteful packaging was something we thought needs to be addressed."

The peer also criticised the application of best-before dates. "Early sell-by dates enables supermarkets to turn round their stock more quickly and they are obviously loathed to expose themselves to legal action if there is something wrong with their food," he said. "Therefore, perfectly good food may be thrown away because of a mixture of supermarkets being overly cautious and being keen to move stock along."

The report was welcomed by the Conservatives. Eric Pickles, the Shadow Secretary for Communities and Local Government, said: "This independent report highlights the failings of the Government to tackle the vast amount of waste produced by businesses, and the lamentable record of this Government in helping firms increase their recycling. Labour Ministers seem obsessed with hammering householders with heavy-handed bin taxes, bin fines and bin cuts, despite the fact that domestic rubbish is a small fraction of the total amount that we throw away."

The Lords' inquiry also call on the Government to offer lower VAT rates for products which have longer life-spans and for those that can be easily repaired rather than replaced.

VAT should also not be levied on electrical repairs in a bid to end the UK's throwaway culture where companies make higher profits if consumers discard their products regularly. The report concludes that there needs to be a radical shift in focus to cut waste from consumer goods - ranging from cars to electrical goods to food packaging - rather than simply penalising households who produce too much waste.

"Such a change could lead to manufacturers adapting their business model to encourage more sustainable consumption amongst their customers," the Lords conclude.

Cheap clothes which are designed to be thrown away after only being worn a few times are also singled out for criticism. "The Committee looked at the growth of 'fast fashion' and point out that the increased use of cheap fabrics for clothes intended to be worn for a short period of time and then thrown away makes recycling of fabric more difficult and is reflective of an increasing 'throwaway society'", the report states.

The Lords analysis was also welcomed by local authorities who have campaigned for supermarkets to cut their packaging which they claim is often excessive.

Paul Bettison, chairman of the Local Government Association's Environment Board, said: "Businesses need to match the efforts local people have made in recent years to reduce this country's reliance on landfill. It is unfair for them to profit at the taxpayers' expense as councils are left to deal with the rubbish they create.

"Reducing packaging is vital if we are to avoid paying more landfill tax and EU fines, which could lead to cuts in frontline services and increases in council tax. The days of the cling film coconut must come to an end. We all have a responsibility to reduce the amount of waste being thrown into landfill, which is damaging the environment and contributing to climate change."

An estimated 32 million people have now lost weekly refuse collections across the country. It recently emerged that ministers have quietly abandoned proposals that would have ensured that local waste authorities could only scrap weekly collections or impose bin taxes following a unanimous council vote.

Environment minister Joan Ruddock defended the Government's approach. ``It's quite wrong to suggest that the Government is over-focused on individuals when it comes to waste," she said. "The landfill tax escalator specifically targets business and commerce as high waste producers. We have a big programme of engagement with business and have invested over £650m in the last three years."