UK – under-packaging is an order of magnitude worse than over-packaging

Food waste levels are shocking but no-one is doing more to reduce them than the packaging industry, reports packaging industry body Incpen.



Supermarkets and their suppliers are reducing packaging but, more importantly they are making sure they use enough packaging to help stop food waste which is a much bigger problem.



More than six million tonnes of food goes to waste each year from households. Good packaging helps prevent this by keeping food fresh for longer and by helping us buy food in portion sizes that suit our needs. See notes to editors below.



The Local Government Association‘‘s recent survey found that 5% of the weight of the shopping basket is packaging. This shows that packaging saves far more waste than it generates. But weight isn‘‘t the only measure of environmental impact. Carbon footprint is also important. So too is using recycled content (which means the packaging needs to be heavier to do the same job).



Perhaps surprisingly, some packaging has to weigh more than its contents or it couldn‘‘t do its job. Champagne needs to be packed in a bottle that is 95 per cent of the total weight or it wouldn’t survive the journey from the vineyard to home, let alone contain bubbles. On the other hand, some packaging is much lighter – butter wrapping is only 1 per cent of the product.



Jane Bickerstaffe, Director of INCPEN points out, “If products are damaged or spoiled as a result of inadequate packaging, all the energy and materials in those products are lost. If we didn’t have packaging, landfills would be a great deal fuller, with damaged goods and spoilt food. Used household packaging occupies less than 3% of landfill space and companies are working to reduce it further.”



“Its a shame that the LGA’s survey did not follow on and look at how much food arrived home in good condition and how much ended up as waste. After all the whole point of packaging is to make sure the food is safe and wholesome all the way through to when it’s consumed. It would also have been helpful if the survey had explained that far from being “rubbish% the packaging saved far more waste than it generated. It should also have explained that recycling has its own environmental impact because energy and materials are used to collect, sort and clean the items for recycling. There is always going to be some packaging and other waste that shouldn’t be recycled because it will have a negative environmental impact.”



“The good news is – UK recycling rates are increasing all the time thanks to the efforts of councils and we use less packaging per person than many other European countries. That said, there are some examples of excessive use of packaging. A proven way to get rid of them is to establish a multi-stakeholder group to act as forum for consumers’ complaints and provide companies with technical advice. Join INCPEN‘‘s campaign for a Packaging Watchdog.”