Jo Swinson

Excess Packaging Campaign - let's wrap it up for good!

The average family spends £470 each year just on packaging. Then there's the cost of disposing of it - as well as paying our local Councils to collect our rubbish, we're now paying extra for whatever isn't recycled. Every household is paying £30 a year in landfill taxes alone. Finally there's the environmental cost; any packaging we don't recycle goes into landfill, which produces the greenhouse gas methane. Decomposing packaging waste alone produces 30,000 tonnes of this gas each year, which has the same effect on global warming as the annual emissions of 100,000 cars.

Excessive packaging is wasteful, expensive and damaging to our planet. Something must be done about it. In this section I explain the laws and voluntary agreements which currently govern the packaging industry, as well as the actions I have taken as part of my campaign against excess packaging. These range from the high-level - introducing a Bill in Parliment - to the grassroots. I also suggest some things you can do to support the campaign against excess packaging.

[Packaging (Reduction) Bill] - [Packaging Law: Essential Requirements] - [Packaging Law: Producer Obligations] - [Courtauld Commitment] - [Easter Egg Packaging Campaign] - [Take Action] - [News Stories] - [Featured Links]

Packaging (Reduction) Bill

In October 2007, I presented a bill to Parliament, setting out a case for a reduction in the amount of packaging used for products bought in our stores. Excessive and wasteful packaging makes absolutely no economic or environmental sense. Despite increases in recycling, domestic waste has risen by a fifth since 1997. The average family now spends £470 per year on packaging. Government attempts to tackle the packaging problem have been much too timid and much too slow. The bill set out how to tackle excess packaging, including giving consumers the right to send their packaging back to the manufacturers, and helping Trading Standards Officers to clamp down on waste. The Packaging (Reduction) Bill proposed a national body be set up to promote and enforce packaging reduction, as well improve existing regulations. Customers would also be able to recycle packaging in supermarkets. In the video on the right, you can watch some of the speech I made as I presented the Bill to the House of Commons.

• Read the whole of the speech here

Unfortunately, the Government did not back the Bill, but I continue to campaign for better legislation to cut out excess packaging. This page explains some of the other actions I have taken to combat excess packaging.

Jo's news stories on the Packaging (Reduction) Bill

29/02/08 Lib Dems back Jo Swinson plans to tackle excess packaging

23/10/07 Jo targets excess packaging in Parliament

19/09/07 Lib Dem conference backs Jo's packaging plan

External news stories on the Packaging (Reduction) Bill

01/11/07 Bid to cut waste (Kirkintilloch Herald)

25/10/07 MP uses Bill to lobby government on packaging reduction (Packaging News)

24/10/07 Call for packaging clamp-down as Bill introduced (Letsrecycle.com)

24/10/07 Swinson aims to cut wasteful packaging (The Herald)

23/10/07 Lib Dems: Govt attempts to reduce waste 'too timid' (Politics.co.uk)

23/10/07 Despite supermarket's green pledges, 40 per cent of packaging is not recyclable (Daily Mail)

23/10/07 Customers could dump wrappers before leaving shop under new law (The Independent)

19/09/07 Plans to cut packaging win Lib Dem support (The Guardian)

19/09/07 Crackdown call on waste packaging (BBC News)

19/09/07 MPs call for national body to reduce packaging (The Independent)

17/09/07 Lib Dems demand pack reduction targets (Packaging News)

Packaging Law: Essential Requirements

It is not a well known fact, but we have laws in the UK which require retailers and manufacturers to minimise the amount of packaging they include with their products. These are the Packaging (Essential Requirements) Regulations 2003, which actually started out as EU legislation in the form of the 1992 Directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste. The Essential Regulations put the following requirements into UK law:

• Packaging should be designed such that its volume and weight be limited to the minimum amount necessary for safety, hygiene and acceptance by consumers.
• Packaging should be designed and produced to permit its reuse or recovery, including recycling, and to minimise the impact on the environment of any waste.
• Packaging should be designed to minimise the levels of hazardous substances which may cause damage to the environment when the packaging is incinerated, put in landfill or otherwise disposed of.

These laws are intended to be enforced by Trading Standards Offices. This means that if you believe the packaging on a product you have bought is excessive, you can report it to your local Trading Standards Office and they can prosecute the company responsible. However, despite the many examples of excess packaging we see on the shelves every day, only four prosecutions have ever been brought under the Essential Regulations since they were introduced in 2003.

In 2008 I carried out a survey of Trading Standards Offices which revealed that they lack the resources to pursue prosecutions under the Essential Regulations, and that the unusual wording of the legislation makes it difficult to enforce.

• Read the results of my survey of Trading Standards Offices here

The following news story also explains the survey results:

13/05/08 Trading Standards not equipped to fight excess packaging

In a House of Commons debate on 24th April 2008, I pressed the Environment Minister Joan Ruddock to strengthen the legislation and equip Trading Standards Offices to enforce it. The Minister admitted that the Essential Regulations are not working, saying: "The hon. Member for East Dunbartonshire (Jo Swinson) raised questions about the packaging regulations. We agree with her. The essential requirements do not work. We have asked for a review, but progress is slow." I subsequently met with Joan Ruddock and made the case to her that packaging legislation must be improved.

• Read the transcript of the House of Commons debate

The following news stories give more details of my meeting with Environment Minister Joan Ruddock:

13/05/08 Jo urges Minister to act on excess packaging

06/05/08 Jo taking residents' packaging complaints direct to Minister

17/04/08 Jo to press Minister on excess packaging

• Read the Packaging (Essential Requirements) Regulations 2003
• Learn more about the EU Directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste
• Read my Christmas 2009 excess packaging report

Packaging Law: Producer Obligations

As well as the Essential Regulations, the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997 introduced responsibilities for manufacturers in relation to their packaging.

The Producer Responsibility Obligations Regulations oblige businesses with an annual turnover over £2million who handle more than 50 tonnes of packaging per year to register with the Environment Agency or another compliance scheme. These compliance schemes record how much packaging is being produced so that they can measure what percentage of packaging is recovered and recycled. This enables the Governent to work out whether the UK is meeting its recycling and recovery targets. The Regulations also require companies to certify that their obligations have been met and, if they are retailers, inform consumers of how they are increasing recovery and recycling.

There have been several recent prosecutions under this law, however many companies are still not even aware that they have these obligations. The soft drinks company Red Bull and the company who make GHD haircare products have both recently been fined for failing to register with compliance schemes. Both of them pleaded guilty to the charges, saying they were unaware of the Regulations and came forward as soon as they realised they were breaking the law.

• Read about the prosecution of Red Bull here
• Read about the prosecution of Jemella, the company behind GHD hair products, here

I am calling on the Government to make more effort to raise awareness of the legislation. For more on this please see the following news story:

04/09/09 Companies "unaware" of packaging law

• Read the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997

Courtauld Commitment

The Courtauld Commitment is a voluntary agreement between wrap and manufacturers in the grocery market which aims to deliver absolute reductions in packaging and food waste by 2010. 41 companies have now signed the Commitment, which WRAP estimates now covers over 92% of the UK grocery market. The agreement set the following objectives:

• To design out packaging waste growth by 2008;
• To deliver absolute reductions in packaging waste by 2010; and
• To help reduce the amount of food the nation's householders throw away by 155,000 tonnes by 2010, against a 2008 baseline.

In 2008, the signatories met their first target, which was to design out packaging waste growth - that is, despite the yearly increase in the amount of packaged products sold, by designing those products so as to minimise the amount of packaging that would go to waste (rather than being recycling), they managed to prevent the total amount of wasted packaging from increasing.

This is good news, although it is vital that we not only cut out packaging waste growth but actually reduce the amount of packaging that goes to waste. I also believe that, rather than reporting on packaging levels across the industry as a whole, it would be better to report on each company, as this would empower consumers to make informed choices about which companies to support by buying their products. Assessing the industry as a whole allows some to companies to carry on being wasteful while others make great reductions. I also believe that, although the Courtauld Commitment is certainly a step in the right direction, given the urgency of the matter we ought to be looking at creating enforceable laws rather than voluntary agreements.

• Read more about the Courtauld Commitment on WRAP's website
• Find out which companies have signed the Courtauld Commitment

Jo's news stories on the Courtauld Commitment

28/07/08 Packaging reduction marred by lack of transparency

Easter Egg Packaging Campaign

Easter eggs offer a prime example of over-packaging - a small chocolate egg, and an unnecessary amount of cardboard, plastic and foil. However, they are getting better. I have carried out a study each year for the last three years to find out just how excess Easter egg packaging is and how the confectionary companies to account. The market for Easter eggs is certainly not the only one where excess packaging is a problem, but it provides a good opportunity to assess how the actions and attitudes of leading food manufacturers have changed each year.

My 2009 report showed that Easter egg packaging has been significantly reduced this year, but there is still further to go. Of the 10 eggs I surveyed, the Lindt Easter egg was the worst performer for the third year running, having made no significant changes to its packaging at all, with the egg still taking up only 9% of its box. The company who showed the most improvement since 2008 was Nestlé, while the packaging for Terry's eggs actually increased. Despite the improvements, however, in some cases the volume packaging has been reduced at the expense of keeping it recyclable.

To download my annual reports on Easter eggs packaging, please use the following links:

• Easter Egg Packaging Report 2011
• Easter Egg Packaging Report 2010
• Easter Egg Packaging Report 2009
• Easter Egg Packaging Report 2008
• Easter Egg Packaging Report 2007

Jo's news stories on Easter egg packaging

27/03/10 Do you want chocolate or packaging this Easter?

09/04/09 Easter egg packaging slashed by a third

15/01/09 Jo welcomes Easter packaging cuts

20/03/08 Jo Swinson challenges Easter packaging offenders

02/04/07 Easter eggs worst for excess packaging

External news stories on Easter egg packaging

23/04/11 Easter eggs get smaller (but don't worry, it's only the boxes) - ( The Independent)

19/04/11 Which? unwraps packaging in supermarkets (Which? Magazine)

29/03/10 Nestlé and Sainsbury's Easter eggs come out on top of MP's report (Packaging News)

27/03/10 Sainsbury's has least recyclable Easter egg packaging (Environmental Expert)

27/03/10 Easter eggs have too much packaging, study finds (Daily Telegraph)

27/03/10 Egg buyers shell out for 'wasteful' packaging (Scotsman)

27/03/10 Crackdown on Easter egg packaging (STV)

11/04/09 Chocolate bosses egged on by green campaigners to make Easter more eco-friendly (Daily Mail)

11/04/09 MP shames chocolate makers who over-egg Easter packaging (The Herald)

11/04/09 Eggs-cellent progress made on cutting down packaging (The Scotsman)

10/04/09 A simple case of over-egging (BBC News)

09/04/09 Easter eggs: more packaging than chocolate (The Independent)

18/02/09 Sweet makers cut down on the packaging as Easter eggs go green (Daily Mail)

20/03/08 How your Easter treats come in 8,000 TONS of waste packaging (Daily Mail)

20/03/08 Easter egg makers fail to cut packaging (The Independent)

05/04/07 What a load of rubbish, says Lib Dem MP (The Guardian)

31/03/07 The great Easter packaging eggstravaganza (The Independent)

Take Action

There are many ways that you can take action to support Jo's excess packaging campaign:

• Visit scrapthispack.com for news and information
• Send me your examples of or stories about excess packaging (4 Springfield House, Emerson Road, Bishopbriggs, G64 1QE)
• Join an action group on sites such as the BBC Action Network, or Facebook "Stop Excess Packaging" group (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=4814662661)
• Sign up for news from the campaign (either via Scrap This Pack, or the form on this page)
• Lobby your MP to support my campaign on excess packaging. You can conctact your MP via www.writetothem.com
• Download our standard letter to Trading Standard Officers
• Write direct to DEFRA at Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR stating your support for the campaign, and citing examples of over-packaged goods.
• Raise the issue with your local supermarket - ask if they will recycle your packaging for you. Tell us if you are successful

More of Jo's news stories on excess packaging

27/10/10 Jo congratulates Marks & Spencer on new compostable packaging

22/12/09 Time to wrap up excess packaging for good

16/09/08 MPs back Lush packaging drive

26/07/07 Excess Packaging campaign comes to Milngavie

12/07/07 Watch one company's attempt to tackle excess packaging

01/02/07 Supermarkets must take responsibility on packaging

External News Articles

23/12/09 Lib Dems call for action on Christmas packaging (Packaging News)

07/09/09 Scottish MP rebukes promotion of packaging waste regulations (Packaging News)

28/02/08 Let's talk a load of old rubbish (The Scotsman)

22/11/07 Protestors litter stores with excess packaging (Scotland on Sunday)

26/10/07 Used packaging sent back to shops (BBC News)

27/04/07 MPs sign up to the campaign against excess packaging (The Independent)

12/02/07 WI to renew campaign against packaging (The Independent)

09/02/07 Politicians sign Commons motion to back campaign against waste (The Independent)

02/02/07 MPs and retailers rally behind campaign to reduce packaging (The Independent)

External Media

Radio 4: Costing the Earth - Jo talks about excess packaging

Jo's featured links

WRAP

WRAP is an organised which works with local authorities, business and households to prevent waste, increase recycling and develop markets for recycled and sustainable products. WRAP has been one of the leading campaigning organisations in the fight against excess packaging.

WRAP

Trading Standards FAQs

This is a resource produced by Hampshire County Council which the laws which govern excess packaging and how they enforced.

FAQs by Trading Standards on excess packaging

Top tips on cutting excess packaging

This resource, produced by BBC Food, explains simple steps you can take to avoid excess packaging and to help put a stop to it.

Seven Top Tips on Cutting Excess Packaging from the BBC

Packaging News

The best source of up to date news on the UK packaging industry.

Packaging News

Petition the EU against excess packaging

A French group hoping to raise 1 million signatures for tougher EU legislation on overpackaging

Overpacking Petition