Supermarkets should to do more to cut their use of packaging, or Britain will fail to meet its recycling targets, council leaders warned today.

Council leaders have urged supermarkets to cut excess packaging on their products

The Local Government Assocation (LGA) called for action after publishing new research revealing that as much as 40% of a regular household shopping basket cannot be recycled.

However, supermarkets have defended their efforts to reduce packaging, saying packaging can help reduce the production of food waste.

The LGA's findings follow local authority frustration over the government's Comprehensive Spending Review earlier this month, which councils saw as the "worst financial settlement in a decade". They believe funding could be in short supply for providing high quality collection and recycling services (see letsrecycle.com story).

The research also comes ahead of an expected publication from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs this Thursday concerning plans for a household incentives scheme to promote recycling (see letsrecycle.com story).

The research from the LGA was carried out by the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB)'s Social Research unit. It saw average shopping baskets being purchased from eight leading supermarkets, with the packaging contained within the baskets examined.

The study found that 5% of the weight of average shopping baskets is made up by packaging, with the most packaging used by the Lidl chain (799.5g). Marks & Spencer was shown to use the least about of recyclable packaging to sell its goods, with only 60% of the packaging within its average shopping basket being recyclable.

Asda was the best performing supermarket chain according to the study, with its packaging weighing 714g, and 70 per cent of it being recyclable.

But, researchers found that local markets surpassed all of the supermarket chains, with the average packaging weighing in at 710.5g, of which 79% is recyclable.

Targets

The LGA has now warned that efforts to meet EU recycling targets will not succeed unless supermarkets do more to help their customers to recycle by using packaging that can be recycled.

Cllr Paul Bettison, chairman of the LGA's environment board, said: "Councils want to work constructively with supermarkets to look at solutions to the problem of excessive packaging. There are many examples from our research of how retailers are making it easier for their customers to recycle, including the use of paper bags and removing layers of packaging. However, we have to question the necessity and desirability of shrink wrapping vegetables like peppers and broccoli."

Cllr Bettison said councils should work with retailers to target consumers in shops as they were making their choices. He explained: "Evidence from other countries has shown that when local authorities work with supermarkets to educate consumers, there is a significant increase in the sale of products with less packaging."

Supermarkets

Supermarkets have today reacted to the LGA survey by pointing out their work to tackle packaging waste, with the packaging industry organisation Incpen springing to the defence of the retail sector.

Incpen - the Industry Council on Packaging and the Environment - said in a statement: "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.

Jane Bickerstaffe, Director of INCPEN pointed 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."

Ms Bickerstaffe said the UK uses less packaging than many other European countries and that it was "a shame" that the LGA's research did not look at how much food arrived home in good condition and how much ended up as waste.

She added: "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 UK currently has packaging recycling targets to meet under the EU Packaging Directive, although this is a producer responsibility measure for the packaging sector to reach rather than councils.

However, councils have a responsibility to help the government meet Landfill Directive targets - which include the diversion of biodegradable packaging from landfill. And, European legislators are currently debating whether to set new recycling and waste prevention targets for the EU (see letsrecycle.com story).