The UK Government will be implementing a plastics packaging tax on 1 April and UK-based waste management company Veolia reports that 77 per cent of British retail and manufacturing businesses are still unaware.
Veolia
Veolia: More than three quarters of UK businesses unprepared for packaging tax
Research conducted by YouGov on behalf of Veolia explored the views of UK-based senior decision makers across retail and manufacturing businesses on the incoming Plastic Packaging Tax, which will place a £200 per tonne levy on producers or importers of plastic packaging if they do not include 30 per cent recycled content and will come into force from 1 April 2022.
The survey found that just 22 per cent of the manufacturing and retail businesses asked had already opted for recycled content in their packaging. To reach the UK’s Net Zero goals, far more businesses must reduce their reliance on virgin materials.
The survey also found that 63 per cent of business would support a tax escalator to further incentivise the adoption of more recycled content. This could lead to further investment in UK-based recycling infrastructure, according to Veolia Northern Europe Zone Senior Executive Vice President, Gavin Graveson: “The UK’s Plastic Packaging Tax is the right way to start getting businesses to push sustainability up the agenda, but it needs to go further. A tax escalator would make choosing to incorporate recycled content in packaging both economically and environmentally preferable to using virgin materials … it would also incentivise investment in domestic infrastructure which could make the UK a world leader in plastics recycling.”
The British retail and manufacturing businesses who had made changes to their plastic packaging reported a reduced amount of unnecessary or avoidable plastic packaging, an increase in those using recycled content, a change in packaging design to align with design for recycling principles, and alternative materials used in their packaging solutions.
Veolia operates a full process to recycle plastic materials from homes and businesses, and turn them back into plastic pellets ready to be used to manufacture new items.
Globally, Veolia aims to recycle 610,000 tonnes of plastic waste a year by 2023 and is part of the international cross value chain Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW), which has committed over $1bn to develop large-scale solutions that will minimise and manage plastic waste and promote solutions for used plastics.