Companies told to make packets easier to recycle

BRITAIN lags behind other countries in recycling packaging, a consumer watchdog has revealed.

Which? joined eight international groups in analysing products such as Coca-Cola, Nutella spread and Whiskas cat food.

They looked at what collection and sorting systems are in place for people to salvage packaging.

The UK finished fifth out of nine nations in the analysis of 11 products.

Britain was behind Hong Kong, Portugal, Australia and India in having the most packaging that could be reused.

Michael Briggs, head of sustainability at Which?, said companies needed to do more to ensure more packaging could be reused.

He said: “We know UK consumers want packaging that is easy to recycle. And while many types of packaging can be recycled in household collections, the UK is lagging behind some other countries for packaging recyclability.”

The most repurposable products were CocaCola’s can pack, the Nescafe Original jar and the Nutella Hazelnut Spread with Cocoa tub, which had the highest average percentage of packaging weight that could be easily be saved.

The most wasteful items across all nine countries were Pringles tubes, right,

M&M’s peanut chocolate wrappers and KitKat packages. While most of the products Which? analysed

were clearly labelled with recycling information, a third did not come with disposal tips.

Mr Briggs said: “Manufacturers must do more to ensure their packaging can be easily recycled. But as a first step the government should make recycling labels on grocery packaging mandatory, simple and clear – enabling shoppers to know exactly how to dispose of packaging.”