PACKAGING


SPOTLIGHT ON PLASTIC PACKAGING


According to WRAP, packaging is the main source of plastic waste, which amounted to a colossal 2.4m tonnes in 2017. This information led to the creation of The UK Plastics Pact, a WRAP initiative supported by some 85 business members, including major retailers, household name manufacturers, packaging industry companies and even the British Meat Processors Association. All are united behind a central vision of, ‘a world where plastic is valued and doesn’t pollute the environment’ (Marcus Gover, CEO, WRAP)


The purpose of this article is not to demonise plastic, far from it. It is to explore consumers views on the subject, how the retail food market is responding and how butchers can play their part in helping to create a ‘circular economy’ for plastics.


How do consumers feel about plastic and plastic waste?


Plastic performs an important role in the food industry. It helps keep products safe to eat by creating an air and water-tight barrier and helps them last longer, which importantly reduces food waste, an even bigger threat to the environment.


Consumers by and large recognise the need for plastic but are increasingly concerned about its impact on the environment. In 2019 INCPEN and WRAP revisited a survey* first ran in 2012 to identify consumer attitudes towards food packaging and how they’re changing over time. In the survey, based on 6000 interviews, the top three concerns consumers had about packaging were: the impact on oceans and marine life, it going to landfill and lastly it not being recyclable; all confirming that consumer concern relates chiefly to plastic packaging.


When asked about how their views towards food packaging/plastic packaging had changed during the last year 53% of consumers said they were ‘more concerned’.


In relation to their attitude to different food packaging materials, consumers are significantly more negative towards plastic. Whereas the majority are positive towards cardboard boxes/trays (74%), glass bottles/jars (70%) and metal tins and cans (59%), almost two in three consumers (63%) feel negatively about plastics (vs. 17% positively). By contrast, reactions to recyclable packaging are overwhelmingly positive (86%).


Food packaging innovations and recycling


Since the first study in 2012 INCPEN noticed that there had been a shift in consumers focus from how packaging could be used to how it could be disposed of. The ‘Top 5’ changes to food packaging that consumers would find most useful are shown in the table below:


Key: Pink 2012 response, Blue 2019 response


Consumers are also actively looking for information that will help them to recycle more effectively. An important element of this is a call for clearer, unambiguous labelling and an end to phrases such as ‘check locally’.


The chart above shows that consumers main concerns when it comes to plastics relate to some of the packaging products commonly used by butchers.


Forty four percent of consumers in the survey chose ‘making all food packaging 100% recyclable so it can be recycled irrespective of where consumers live’ as their top action to mitigate the negative impact it can have on the environment. Vice Chair of the NFU, Stuart Roberts, called on government to put in place the infrastructure to ‘make it easy’ for consumers to recycle during a panel discussion at the Oxford Real Farming Conference.


* INCPEN & WRAP: UK Survey 2019 on citizens attitudes and behaviours relating to food waste, packaging and plastic packaging. CRAFT BUTCHER MAY/JUNE 2021| 9


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