An INCPEN (Industry Council for Packaging and the Environment) reveals that over 80% of the public have expressed support for the government’s ‘consistent recycling’ packaging policies.
The 2018 policies include Extended Producer Responsibility measures for packaging, Deposit Return Schemes and taxes on packaging.
The survey, which was undertaken throughout last month, looked at perspectives from over 5,000 respondents.
More than seven in ten English respondents (73%) said the policy should be implemented without delay or by 2026, the same was true for Wales, whilst support was even higher in Scotland
Speaking to letsrecycle.com INCPEN chief executive Paul Vanston said “These citizen’s survey results demonstrate beyond any doubt that consistent recycling and labelling policies are massively supported by the public across the whole of the UK”.
“When added to the many calls from manufacturers, brands, retailers, councils and waste management sectors for the government to publish the policies from the 2021 consultation on consistency, the common public and industry message is ‘let’s get on with it’ ”
Subscribe to Sustainability Beat for free
Sign up here to get the latest sustainability news sent straight to your inbox each morning
The results were released before the Prime Minister said he was axing Defra’s “seven bins” plans , which would see households have to sort their rubbish into seven separate bins, although critics have questioned whether that was already on the cards at all.
Retailers including Coca-Cola and Pepsi Co have urged the government not to scrap the DRS scheme, despite other retailers saying it could be too costly.
In August it became apparent that the scheme could be pushed back to 2026, despite having already been delayed due to the impact of Covid-19.
Meanwhile, in July the Extended Producer Responsibility Rules which would require manufacturers to cover the cost of collecting and recycling their packaging has been delayed from October 2024 to October 2025.
