The government’s new levy on food and drink packaging has come into force - designed to make businesses shoulder the cost of recycling their products, but industry leaders are warning that while the introduction of this kind of levy is welcome, in practice it could penalise those engaging in more sustainable practices.
Ross Murdoch is the Chief Sustainability Officer of sustainable packaging company Meadow (https://meadow.global/) . He’s warning that ‘there are risks that the current design of fee rates may not achieve the goal of increasing recycling. As fees are decided by weight, if they are set at the wrong levels it could easily end up incentivising companies to move towards lighter, un-recyclable materials and discourage those who want to use more recyclable but heavier materials.
‘For example, it could be cheaper for a brand to switch from glass to flexible plastic, which would be against the aim of EPR fees to increase recycling and circularity.’
Taxing packaging is morally and economically right
Ross comments: ‘A tax relating to the disposal of packaging is logical and should help encourage the biggest polluters to transition to more sustainable packaging. For far too long the biggest polluters have been able to get away with privatising their profits and pushing the problems they create onto the state. But it’s crucial that any effort to enforce a levy like this sends the right message and doesn’t end up hurting those at the forefront of the push towards sustainability”
Similarly, if the fee difference between materials isn't large enough, the brands won't be incentivised to switch to more circular materials like aluminium, they will just pay the fee and be done with it.’