Josh Brooks, packagingnews.co.uk, 24 September 2009
Ireland’s plastic bag tax is to double under new laws expected to be published next month.
The current 22 euro cent tax on every single-use carrier distributed would double to 44 cents, around 40p, under the proposals.
Comment: It’s great to see the Irish government taking initiatives to reduce POS use of plastic bags, but I still believe that targeting plastic bags is a political stunt that takes everyone’s eyes off the ‘bigger picture’. There are ‘bigger fish to fry’ such as the 30% food waste generated every day by most households, which used huge amounts of energy and resource to grow it, farm it, transport it, package it, take it home, store it in the fridge – only to be thrown away – let’s get a sense of perspective here! Chris Penfold
Read the full article here: http://tinyurl.com/ydpcrrn
I’m not sure about this one, I suppose it depends on what shade of colour recycled mixed glass would give. I mean a jar of white mayo could look a little unappetising in a light shade of greeny/brown. Until the bottles/jars arrived how would you know if your design will work with it. See what you think.
Retailer demand for recycled glass could rocket after new UK research commissioned by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP).
The study, conducted in partnership with Sainbury’s, found that consumers are just as likely to buy products in jars and bottles made from mixed colour recycled glass as they are to buy items in clear glass packaging.
Scotland’s first minister has blasted Diageo’s decision to close its Kilmarnock packing plant and cut 900 jobs, and has pledged the government will do all it can to protect the affected workers.
Firstly, I must say that it’s great news that we’ve finally got a strategy being developed for packaging in a low carbon economy – it’s a huge step forward.
The report suggests a move away “from weight-based to carbon-based (packaging waste) targets” taking in to account “whole life cycle impacts.” which is a bold move – but how will this be implemented and managed in a consistent manner?
There is mention of “Treating packaging waste as a valuable resource”. Yes, we should encourage:
“• more recycling by householders; with schemes that collect all the main packaging materials” (but let’s get UK wide consistency and make it easier for consumers to differentiate & sort!). As Dick Searle points out (see Packaging News below), “recyclability is not the problem – 85% of packaging is recyclable, while just 35% of packaging is actually recycled.”
“• local authorities and businesses treating waste packaging as a resource, leading to more recycling by businesses” (Yes, most businesses will respond to cash incentives for recycling schemes but we should not lose sight of other ways of processing waste and think of latent energy recovery/capture. Efforts should be given to an all encompassing sustainability policy/programme – i don’t see any mention of that anywhere! – or have I missed something?)
As a footnote, I’d like to say that anything that enables consumers to appreciate the benefits of packaging and stop seeing it only as ‘waste’, is a good thing. I also think that we are in dire need of a government strategy on ‘Food Waste’ = otherwise we are missing a ‘big trick’ here. Around 30% of all food purchased is thrown away. If it wasn’t packaged (to extend its shelf life) that figure would probably be over 50%.
So we will continue to work on innovation for our sustainability projects, reducing and minimising wherever we can, as consumers demand, but we must not lose sight of the need for choice and convenience.
What do you think? Have your say in the comments below….
The following article provides an overview of Hilary Benn’s Packaging Strategy. We will follow-up with our own comments and views on this strategy in a separate blog-post – look out for it! Chris
Jill Park, packagingnews.co.uk, 09 June 2009
The banning of aluminium and glass from landfill is under review by the government as part of its long-awaited Packaging Strategy, revealed today.
Environment minister Hilary Benn announced the government’s new packaging strategy, ‘Making the most of packaging’, this morning at the Futuresource conference at Excel in London.
The strategy outlines the government’s plan to improve the design and manufacture of packaging over the next decade and covers recycling strategy, packaging reduction and reusability.
12-Jun-2009 – The Local Government Association (LGA) has urged UK companies to contribute to the ₤100m annual disposal costs of excess packaging, in an effort to reduce package wastage.
