Online retailers ‘failing to pick up their recycling bill’

MAJOR online retailers are using a loophole in the law to avoid contributing towards the cost of recycling, a new report has claimed.

The report, by recycling group Repak, also found that the amount of packaging is increasing by 28% every year.

Repak CEO Séamus Clancy has blasted companies like Amazon for not contributing to the cost of recycling their packaging waste, calling it ‘an abuse of the system’.

Each year, over 7,000 tonnes of waste packaging are delivered to Irish households by online retailers – the same amount of annual waste produced by 16,000 people.

‘This material has to be collected, gathered and recycled. It is costing Repak members around €500,000 a year to recycle this packaging, of which international retailers do not pay a penny,’ said Mr Clancy.

The report by Repak argues that international retailers have no incentive to cut their amount of packaging, as they are not the ones picking up the bill.

Instead, Irish businesses that are members of Repak, are forking out almost €200 a year to deal with the problem.

Mr Clancy called on the Government to fix the ‘loophole’ in the system.

When this was put to Amazon, it pointed to the Frustration-Free Packaging scheme which it says has eliminated 181,000 tonnes of packaging. The easier to open packages promise to eliminate so-called ‘wrap rage’, when recipients can’t open the box.

Frustration-free packaging has ‘delighted tens of millions of customers around the globe’, according to a statement by Kim Houchens, Director of Customer Packaging Experience at Amazon.

Mr Clancy argued that the current position was giving international companies an unfair competitive advantage.

He told the Irish Daily Mail: ‘We simply want the Minister to amend the legislation, technology has disrupted the industry and the responsibility for contributing to the management of packaging waste should now apply to overseas operators. Shopping patterns have changed so there is a need to update the legislation.’

He urged online retailers like Amazon to practise ‘good corporate social responsibility and make a contribution towards the packaging waste they generate in Ireland’.

The Repak report author, Dr Pat McCloughan did not criticise the amount of packaging generated by the companies but rather how the Government manages recycling costs. ‘The companies have an interest to minimise the packaging and they’re doing their best to minimise it,’ he said.