The Federation's accusation comes in the wake of its own analysis of packaging waste data for the UK which has lead to it questioning the validity of the figures.
Its calculations of the estimated amount of packaging in the UK market, based on Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs figures, put the total level of packaging at about 10.2 million tonnes.
The Federation said: “Businesses under the de minimis level for the packaging waste regulations account for about 13% of this tonnage, about 1.3 million tonnes. This seems unlikely and reflects the need for the Environment Agencies to be more diligent in their pursuit of possible free-riders in the system.”
The data is contained within the Federation's newly-published third market report. This notes that the packaging manufacturing sector has seen increased capital investment in recycling and production over the past five years in contrast to a decrease in investment in UK packaging machinery, according to a new industry report. It also highlights the fact that the packaging waste recovery has increased from 33% in 1998 to 50% in 2002.
In general industry terms the manufacturing of packaging in the UK remains an important industry sector with a turnover of about 8 billion. But the Federation remarks that in comparison to some of the key industries that it services, the packaging turnover is dwarfed, “showing that packaging costs are a small part of the supply chain value”.
Dominance
Recycling of packaging is influenced in the UK by packaging waste targets and availability and collection of material. The report shows there is an expected dominance of paper and plastics by production value in the UK between 1997 and 2002 but that there was an overall decline in share for paper/board, wood and metals with an increase for plastics and glass. Trade balances have an impact on the UK market share of packaging by value. This means that the value of plastics is increased relative to paper due to the fact that more plastic packaging is imported overall than paper.
The Federation also emphasises the important of recycling in the packaging sector arguing that it is an integral part of the process and an element of both waste management and minimisation.
Weight
Federation says that by weight packaging made up about 20% of household waste but 25% of recycling achievement in 2001/02. It predicts that the amount of packaging will reduce to 18% of household waste and 19% of recycling achievement by 2008 as household waste is estimated to increase by more than any rise in the amount of packaging waste.
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