Plastic pollution is becoming increasingly more concerning, posing significant threats to our natural environment across land, air and water.
Anyone who watched David Attenborough reveal the devastating effects of plastic ocean pollution in Blue Planet II will be aware of the downside to packaging convenience. From plastic bottles to disposable coffee cups, single-use plastic is ingrained into many peoples’ daily routines.
Budget 2018
Yesterday, Philip Hammond announced a new tax on the manufacturing and importing of plastic packaging that contains less than 30% recycled plastic.
However, environmental groups have criticised the lack of ambition in plastic targets. The successful introduction of the 2015 5p plastic bag charge cut bag sales by 86%. As a result, many people are calling for a similar charge on coffee cups and plastic bottles.
Despite this success, the ‘latte levy’ hasn’t been introduced; “I have concluded that a tax in isolation would not at this point deliver a decisive shift from disposable to reusable cups,” said Mr Hammond.[1]
UK Plastic Pact
6 months ago the UK Plastic Pact initiative was established with WRAP. This pact aims at encouraging businesses, governments, local authorities and citizens to tackle the burden of plastic waste and focus on a more sustainable future.
With targets in place to transform the UK’s plastic packaging sector by 2025, a number of notable FMCG food and drink giants are signing the pledge; Nestle, Unilever and Danone joining forces alongside the likes of Mars and PepsiCo.
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, responsible for establishing the pact, are already seeing results from the pledge. For example, Coca-Cola and Highland Spring have made their bottles 100% recyclable.
Read more about the pact and how you can get involved here.
Whilst this pact is a fantastic initiative with large FMCG companies leading by example, we are all responsible for cutting down plastic pollution. 2.5 billion disposable coffee cups are thrown away every year – just think of that next time you’re visiting your favourite coffee chain on the way to work.
Are you working towards using less plastic? Have you come up with an innovative way to get around single-use plastic? We’d love to hear from you! Drop us an email – hello@foodindustryassociates.com, or tweet @_JobsInFood
[1] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/budget-2018-plastic-waste-packaging-recycling-coffee-cups-levy-philip-hammond-a8607366.html