Green has gone mainstream. In recent months, the tipping point of awareness has been reached by both consumers and business, with excess packaging as one of the more obvious and tangible issues. High-profile campaigns, particularly from the WI and Independent newspaper has help to bring the issue to the top of the agenda. But there remains much ignorance, confusion and misinformation about packaging and its role in our society. The issue of packaging is directly related to waste and therefore recycling. On a deeper level, it relates to our ‘throw-away’ culture as a rich, industrialised nation.

Questions debated by Allegra and her panel of experts include why is there so much packaging; how much are we throwing out; are we getting more wasteful; is some packaging actually beneficial and how could we make things better?


The Panel

Jean Sheppard - National Federation of Women’s Institutes Public Affairs Committee
Jean has been a member of the WI for over 20 years. She joined the National Federation of Women’s Institutes Public Affairs Committee in 2004, campaigning on various issues from green energy to packaging. In June 2006, the WI’s Packaging Day of Action encouraged the public to return excess packaging to over 100 supermarkets across the country.

Jane Bickerstaffe - Director, Industry Council for Packaging and the Environment
Jane is a biochemist and since 2000 has been the director of Industry Council for Packaging and the Environment (INCPEN), a research organisation which represents companies from Sainsbury’s and Coca Cola to Tetra Pack and Unilever. Together they “share a vision of the future where all production, distribution and consumption are sustainable.” INCPEN aim to explain role of packaging in society and work with industry to minimise impact, and join up thinking. Jane is a member of UK Government Advisory Committee on Waste and Resources Research and Development; a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and a Fellow of the Institute of Packaging and is a former special advisor on recycling to the British government.

Catherine Conway - Founder, Unpackaged
In 2006, Catherine set up Unpackaged, a company selling organic dry goods and eco household products in refillable containers. Customers bring their own containers, or buy re-usable containers for a small fee. Unpacked already has stalls on Broadway and Exeter Market in London, and Catherine is planning her first shop in the capital.



Packaging: The Frightening Facts

• The Environment Agency estimates that more than 88,000 tons of weekly household waste is packaging.
• Its estimated that the manufacture of packaging for British food produces 10 million tonnes of CO2 in Britain each year, or 170kg for each of us (Independent)
• Each year an estimated 6.3 million tonnes of packaging reaches British homes, costing the average family more than £400 (it’s estimated that £8 of every £50 spent on food by the average household goes towards the packaging costs). Consumers also pay for the disposal of packaging through council tax.
• Packaging volume increased by 12% between 1999 and 2005. It now makes up a third of the typical household’s waste (Independent)
• Bulky plastic two and four litre milk containers create 100,000 tons of plastic, equivalent to the weight of 260 jumbo jets and take 500 years to decompose.

What You Can Do

• Remember the ‘3 Rs’ - reduce, re-use and recycle
• Get milk delivered (www.delivermilk.co.uk )
• Avoid disposable items.
• Buy loose produce.
• Compost.

Recent Development

• Supermarkets are introducing compostable packaging including biodegradable plastics. Plastic wine bottles are now used on some wines in Sainsbury’s. Asda is trialling a new milk bottle called Greenbottle which made out of cardboard in its Lowestoft store. Waitrose sells some plastic pouches of milk. Daylesford sell a sealed jug-shaped container made from calcium carbonate which breaks down naturally into water, carbon dioxide and chalk. Sainsbury’s organic range of produce is sold in compostable packaging.
• There are plans for a 10p levy on plastic bags in the London Local Authorities Bill due before MPs in November 2007. However, in Ireland, the banning of plastic bags has led to a 70% growth in sales of bin liners (made of plastic that is even more difficult to dispose of than plastic bags) as people were using bags in their bins.
• By 2008, the Courthauld Commitment aims to “design out” the rise in packaging and by 2010, cut packaging by 340,000 tonnes. Strategies include lightweighting, slimming down materials, and de-layering, removing unnecessary packaging.

Links

Women’s Institute

Industry Council for Packaging and the Environment

Unpackaged

FareShare community food network

Waste and Resources Action Programme