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Government lays out new strategy for packaging recycling
01 August 2009
The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (“Defra”) has recently issued its new strategy designed to improve the sustainability of retail packaging. ‘Making the most of packaging: A strategy for a low-carbon economy’ sets out the Government’s plan to halt the continuing growth in packaging waste, which has increased by 1-2 % every year in the last ten years.
In 2007 an estimated 10.6 million tonnes of packaging was produced, of which only 61% was recycled. The strategy highlights ways to improve this performance and sets out the principles which will guide the development of packaging design and recycling in coming years:
- Improvements in the volume of packaging recycled, both by householders and industry
- Potential changes to the Producer Packaging Regulations in 2014
- The use of voluntary agreements with manufacturers and industry to reduce packaging and use more sustainable materials
- The development of improved recycling facilities and technologies, such as anaerobic digestion, to ensure that all packaging is either recycled or has energy recovered from it
- The possible replacement of volume based recycling and recovery targets with carbon-based reporting, designed to better reflect the overall environmental impact of waste
The complete strategy is available to download from www.defra.gov.uk
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