Feb 11th, 2021
3 mins
On the 3rd February 2021 we held our third meeting of the SIG Packaging Group.
We were joined by 25 members who heard updates on the EPR Consultation from Lee Wills of Bidfood and Nick Hoare of Greenyard.
Lee and Nick have represented the BFFF on the workshops run by INCPEN which ensured the frozen food industry had a voice at these important consultations.
The next meetings are due in March/April.
We were also joined by Lee Marshall of LARAC – a trade body for Primary Authorities. Lee shared the view on recycling and recovery of packaging from the perspective of the people who collect and recycle much of the packaging our members use and sell.
There were two very stark points made by Lee.
The first is that currently his members do not want to collect flexible film for recycling. This will be a major impediment in obtaining enough recycled material to reach the Government target of plastic containing 30% recycled material from April 2022.
The second point was that Lee estimates industry only pays about 7% of the total cost of recycling which is estimated nationally to be £807m. This indicates the challenge members face as the Government transfer this cost from Local Authorities to Industry.
In future meetings we will arrange to hear from experts to understand the role that chemical recycling can play in providing recycled content for packaging in the future.
If any member wishes to get a full update on the work of the group then please contact Jilly Wallis
