The Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD) has published a new report which aims to help the food and consumer goods industry meet the shared ambition of halving the environmental impact of the UK packaging system by 2030.
Focusing on challenges facing the industry, the report, entitled ‘Halving the environmental impact of the UK packaging system: How industry and key stakeholders can work together to drive positive change’, says it hopes to highlight opportunities to reduce the impact of packaging and achieve cost savings with environmental efficiency gains.
According to the report, ‘continuing business as usual’ will not deliver the industry’s 2030 ambition. IGD also highlights a need to ‘looking beyond current legislation’, shifting the focus from plastics to all packaging materials.
To achieve the ambition, the report states that there will need to be a 20 per cent reduction in the amount of packaging on the market. Three key levers to change are identified:
- Removing packaging – eliminating unnecessary packing, lightweighting and moving to reusable packaging systems.
- Increasing the recycled content across all packaging materials.
- Decarbonising the existing supply chains or moving production to regions with lower carbon intensity.
Susan Barratt, CEO at IGD, commented: “Creating sustainable packaging systems is a critical issue. Last year, we brought together stakeholders to form a working group to create our shared industry ambition. Recent events have thrown the context of this work sharply into focus, with unprecedented challenges around commodity inflation and supply affecting businesses and consumers alike. This has led to a significant reappraisal of packaging strategy and sourcing decisions.
“Our challenge is to find solutions to future packaging systems that can help consumers do their bit for the planet and also keep their costs down. For businesses, the opportunity is to provide them with a framework for investment that minimises costs and enables growth.
“Our stakeholders have been invaluable in challenging our industry to work together as one voice. It will now take industry leaders, technical and commercial teams to refocus their plans to ensure that collectively, we can meet this ambition.”
Get our weekly digest
resource.co article ai
How will the government and DMOs address the challenges of including glass in DRS while ensuring a level playing field across the UK?
There's no easy solution to include glass in the DRS while maintaining a level playing field. Potential approaches include a phased introduction of glass, potentially with higher deposits to reflect its logistical challenges. The government and DMOs could incentivise innovation in glass packaging design and subsidise dedicated return points for glass-handling. Exemptions for smaller businesses unable to handle glass might also be necessary. Any successful solution will likely blend several approaches. It must address the differing priorities of devolved administrations, balance environmental benefits with logistical and cost implications, and be supported by robust consumer education campaigns emphasizing the importance of glass recycling.