single-use plastic bottles because consumers still want them.


The drinks group, which produces three million


tonnes of plastic packaging a year, was last year found to be the most polluting brand in a global audit of plastic waste by the charity Break Free From Plastic. It has pledged to recycle as many plastic bottles as it uses by 2030, though some campaigners want it to do so sooner. ‘Business won’t be in business if we don’t


accommodate consumers,’ said Perez. ‘So, as we change our bottling infrastructure, move into recycling and innovate, we also have to show the consumer what the opportunities are. They will change with us.’ The packaging industry is also pushing back at some of the criticism. ‘In my judgment, a lot of the increase is to do with much more accurate accounting,’ says Vyse. ‘Until five years ago, nobody gave a toss about this subject so nobody kept detailed records. As time has gone on, this detail has got more and more granular and we now have a system whereby supermarkets have to account for every kilogramme of plastic they produce. ‘Supermarkets are now being a lot more open about


what they’re doing and drawing a line under what went on before. The accounting has got better and therefore the numbers are getting more polished.’ Choudhary agrees: ‘The scale of our concern and scrutiny around plastics is a relatively recent phenomenon. Many retailers have had to adapt historic data collection processes and systems in order to deliver the new level of data on packaging expected from brands, and inaccuracies in previous data reported may play a role in the increased packaging footprint from 2017 to 2018.’ The regulatory environment is also set to change.


At present, the only regulation of plastic recycling is through Packaging Recovery Notes, an effective tax levied on packaging to pay for recycling. The levy is set at 15 per cent of the recycling costs but under the new Resources and Waste Strategy, the Government is considering increasing this to 100 per cent – and stipulating that the rise must not be passed on to customers. Plastic recycling costs under the PRN system have


been volatile. A year ago, the price was about £75 a tonne, making the total tax bill for a small retailer about £1.5 million a year. During 2019, however, the price increased to about £450 per tonne, increasing the


CorpComms | February/March 2020


annual costs of a small retailer to about £5 million. ‘It’s not a great system and there isn’t enough transparency about where the funds go,’ says Goodwin. Such problems need to be


Until five years ago, nobody gave a toss about this subject so nobody kept detailed records


resolved speedily because there are few signs that millennials and other concerned consumers are changing their tune. Vyse believes the industry has now got its house in


order and predicts that the 2019/20 figures will show flat production or a slight decline in plastic packaging for supermarkets. ‘The various groups involved in the supply chain have finally talked to one another,’ he says. ‘Up until recently, packaging designers, retailers, polymer providers, bottle-makers and waste recyclers all worked in isolation. Now designers are very much more aware of what they have to do. The youth market is increasingly eschewing products that


overtly come in plastic. Marketers will increasingly not want to go down that road because they know it will result in alienation.’ That’s the risk driving the whole movement but


Britain’s supermarkets need to have some hard evidence that they are walking the talk. Another rise in production this year would test even the most skilful of communicators. CC


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