Top retailers meet with Government in a bid to cut excess packaging
19 December 2011
Unnecessary packaging on our Christmas presents and dinners means that during the festive period alone councils could be dealing with around 1.7m tonnes of household waste.
To tackle the problem the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) are calling for retailers, manufacturers and local authorities to bring an end to excessive packaging.
They said although grocery packaging was cut by more than 220,000 tonnes last year, and recycling that kind of waste is at an all-time high of 60%, more still needs to be done to reduce it and make sure what does get thrown away does not go to landfill.
A summit involving representatives from Sainsbury's, Tesco, Morrisons and some local councils from around the UK will take place today (Monday) at the headquarters of the DCLG in central London.
Keep Britain Tidy fully support the move to reduce packaging, which ends up as litter on our streets, along our roadsides, in our towns and cities, throughout the year.
Fiona Ashurst, spokesperson for Keep Britain Tidy said: “The vast majority of litter found on our streets comes from wrappers, cartons and other forms of packaging. In fact, according to our Local Environmental Survey of England, the top six littered items in this country consist of packaging of some description.
“By reducing the amount of unnecessary packaging, manufacturers can play their part in tackling the problem of litter in this country.”