British businesses are still unaware of Plastic Packaging Tax

According to new research conducted by YouGov, on behalf of environmental solutions company, Veolia, 77 per cent of British retail and manufacturing businesses are still unaware of the impending Plastic Packaging Tax, which will come into force from 1 April 2022.

The research explored the views of British-based senior decision makers across retail and manufacturing businesses on the incoming Plastic Packaging Tax, which places a £200 per tonne levy on producers or importers of plastic packaging if they do not include 30 per cent recycled content.

The survey found that only a fifth (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 majority of British retail and manufacturing businesses also support an escalator in percentage of recycled content threshold (63 per cent) and cost charge (50 per cent) as an incentive to use recycled content.

The British retail and manufacturing businesses who had made changes to their plastic packaging reported:

• Two thirds (66 per cent) have reduced the amount of unnecessary or avoidable plastic packaging
• Over half (58 per cent) now use recycled content
• 54 per cent have changed the packaging design to make it more recyclable
• 39 per cent have chosen alternative materials to plastic for their packaging

Gavin Graveson, Veolia Northern Europe Zone Senior Executive Vice President commented: “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.

“Not only could the UK save up to 2.89 million tonnes of carbon emissions every year if all plastic packaging included 30 per cent recycled content, it would also incentivise investment in domestic infrastructure which could make the UK a world leader in plastics recycling.”

Working from three dedicated sites in London, Essex and the Midlands, 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 plastic items. This can process over 100 different grades of plastic from consumer, commercial and industrial sources, and pass these materials back into the supply chain for reuse.

Globally Veolia aims to recycle 610,000 tonnes of plastic waste a year by 2023, equivalent to 16,944 million four pint milk bottles.