Supermarket Packaging

Supermarkets must take urgent action to reduce excessive packaging or Britain will fail to meet its recycling targets, council leaders warned today.

The call came as new research published by the Local Government Association (LGA) revealed up to 40 per cent of household shopping baskets are not recyclable.

The LGA commissioned British Market Research Bureau (BMRB) to buy a range of common food items from eight different retailers.

Analysis of the purchases found local retailers and market traders produced less packaging than larger supermarkets.

BMRB found on average five per cent of the total weight of shopping baskets was made up of packaging.

The supermarket with the heaviest packaging was Lidl, while the contents of the Marks & Spencer basket had the lowest level of packaging that could be recycled.

Asda was the best performing supermarket, with customers able to recycle 70 per cent of their basket. But the LGA found the local market to be the best overall, with a 79 per cent green basket.

The results contradict the expensive marketing campaigns of these leading supermarkets, which attempt to seduce customers by claiming they are greener than their competitors.

The LGA has warned that increased efforts from the public and local councils to meet EU recycling targets will fail unless supermarkets do more to reduce excessive packaging.

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