U.K.: Supermarkets under pressure to reveal amount of plastic they create

Leading UK retailers say information is too ‘commercially sensitive’ to reveal, following Guardian report they make almost 1m tonnes a year
Matthew Taylor and Sandra Laville The Guardian 18 Jan 18;

Supermarkets are coming under growing pressure from politicians and campaigners to reveal the amount of plastic they create, and pay more towards its safe disposal, following a Guardian investigation.

Amid mounting concern about the devastating environmental impact of plastic pollution around the globe, the Guardian revealed on Wednesday that the UK’s leading supermarkets create almost 1m tonnes of plastic packaging waste every year.

However, the system is shrouded in secrecy. When the Guardian asked leading retailers to reveal the exact amount of waste they are responsible for, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Waitrose, Asda and Lidl all refused, saying the information was “commercially sensitive”.

Mary Creagh, MP, the chair of the environmental audit committee, warned “a plastic tide is engulfing our streets, beaches and oceans” and called on the government to act.

“Government should change the rules to encourage the use of packaging that is easy to recycle and raise charges on plastics that are difficult to recycle, to reduce the amount and type of plastic we use.”

Caroline Lucas, Green party MP and co-leader, said that although the “government talks a good game on plastics” they need to be taking much firmer action.

“For a start that must mean forcing supermarkets to come clean about how much plastic they use – but they should also ask those who use the most to pay more of the cost of dealing with it too.”
Labour’s shadow environment secretary, Sue Hayman, said: “Labour supports the calls being made for the government to change the rules so that supermarkets have to let the public know how much plastic they are producing.”

Supermarkets have to declare the amount of plastic they put on the market annually under an EU directive. But the information is kept secret.

A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said it has plans to reform the producer responsibility system to “in order to incentivise producers to take greater responsibility for the environmental impacts of their products.

“We will be publishing more detail in our upcoming resources and waste strategy.”
The spokesman said it was not possible to release details of how much plastic packaging is produced by each supermarket because that was “commercially sensitive”.

Although several major supermarkets refused to share their figures with the Guardian, two – Aldi and the Co-op – were open about the amount of plastic they put on to the market each year.

Using their data, and other publicly available market share information, environmental consultants Eunomia estimated that the top supermarkets are creating a plastic waste problem of more than 800,000 tonnes each year – well over half of all annual UK household plastic waste of 1.5m tonnes.

Louise Edge, senior oceans campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said more transparency would spur positive competition among supermarkets to cut their plastic output, rewarding the companies who make an effort.

“They should include measures such as phasing out non-recyclable and single-use plastics from own brand products, installing free water fountains and re-fill stations for soft drinks, backing deposit return schemes and trialling reusable packaging for home deliveries.”

The Guardian’s revelations about supermarket plastic have added to mounting public concern about the damage that plastic does to the natural world. The Guardian has already revealed the vertiginous growth in plastic production, and the heavy environmental toll it exacts.

Many believe the existing system to make producers pay towards the waste they create in the UK is not tough enough.

The Environment Agency polices the UK packaging compliance system. Under the scheme retailers who dodge their duties to pay towards the recycling of their packaging most often receive civil sanctions. They are rarely prosecuted in the criminal courts.

In the last six years 240 retailers have been sanctioned and agreed to pay a total of almost £5m to charities, including Wrap, the Woodland Trust, Keep Britain Tidy and various local rivers and wildlife trusts.

The sanctions are known as Enforcement Undertakings, and are a voluntary arrangement between the Environment Agency and the offending retailer.


Hundreds of MPs call on supermarkets to scrap plastic packaging
MPs write to major supermarkets, as pressure grows over the huge amounts of plastic waste they generate
Sandra Laville The Guardian 19 Jan 18;

Two hundred cross-party MPs are calling on heads of the major supermarkets to eliminate plastic packaging from their products by 2023.

The MPs, who are from seven political parties, have written to Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Asda, Waitrose, Aldi, Lidl, Budgens and Marks & Spencer urging them to scrap plastic packaging.

They wrote after the Guardian revealed this week the major supermarkets in the UK create more than 800,000 tonnes of plastic packaging waste – well over half the household plastic waste – each year.

Six of the major supermarkets refused to reveal the amount of plastic packaging they put on to the market, saying the information was commercially sensitive. Analysis by Eunomia environmental consultants used figures provided by Aldi and the Co-op – the only chains to release public figures on their plastic tonnage – and the market share of each supermarket to estimate how much plastic packaging the chains produce each year.

This week, Iceland announced it would stop plastic packaging on its own brand products by 2023. Catherine West, Labour MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, who is behind the letter, said: “Vast amounts of plastic are ‘used’ for merely a few seconds before being discarded.

“We have a moral duty to tackle this disposable culture. As such, I welcome the recent announcement from Iceland supermarkets … and I’m delighted that MPs from all parties are supporting my call for other retailers to follow suit.”

Waitrose announced on Friday it would no longer use black plastic for its meat, fish, fruit and vegetables by the end of this year, and that all Waitrose products would be free of black plastic by the end of 2019. Black plastic cannot be recycled under current UK systems.

Each year it is estimated that more than 300m tonnes of plastic are produced globally. The Guardian revealed recently that plastic production is set to soar over the next 10 years.

On Friday Coca-Cola announced a new goal to collect and recycle the equivalent of 100% of the packaging it sells globally by 2030.

Coca-Cola said: “Given the size and scope of this challenge, we expect to invest in new packaging innovations and local collection and recycling systems, as well as consumer education and awareness programs.”

Damian Gammell, CEO of Coca-Cola European Partners, said: “At the heart of this is our commitment to collect 100% of our packaging and ensure that 50% of the PET plastic we use will be rPET by 2025. We are also exploring how we can inspire more consumers to recycle by using the power of our brands, advertising and message on packaging.”

But Greenpeace, which is campaigning for the introduction of a plastic bottle deposit scheme in the UK, said Coca-Cola’s plan failed to include any reduction of the company’s rapidly increasing use of single-use plastic bottles globally, which now stands at well over 110bn annually.

“It contrasts starkly with pledges to reduce the use of disposable plastic made by many retailers in recent weeks,” a Greenpeace spokesman said.

Greenpeace estimates that Coca-Cola has increased its number of single-use plastic bottles by nearly a third (31%) since 2008 and that they now account for almost 70% of Coke’s packaging globally.

Last week, prime minister Theresa May said supermarkets should set up plastic-free aisles, and pledged to eliminate unnecessary plastic waste by 2042 – but received a lukewarm response from environmental groups.

Sue Hayman, shadow environment secretary, said: “Labour is calling on all supermarkets to follow the lead shown by Iceland. We know that the government can act on Britain’s plastics crisis a lot sooner than before 2042.”