TURN THE TIDE ON PLASTIC

the Co-op, provided details about the amount of plastic packaging they put on to the market when asked by the Guardian. Using their data, and other publicly available market share information, Eunomia was able to come up with the 800,000-tonne figure.

Earlier this week, Iceland, which has pledged to remove all plastic packaging from its own-label products within five years, put supermarket plastic packaging at an even higher 1million tonnes. Other estimates have suggested the true figure could be 1.5million tonnes.

Eunomia chairman Dominic Hogg said: ‘The data reported for plastic packaging put on the market as a whole is an underestimate.’

Supermarkets keep their plastic footprint secret with a confidentiality agreement signed with the agencies involved in the British recycling compliance scheme.

They pay less towards collecting and recycling their plastic waste than in any other European country – just 10 per cent – leaving taxpayers to pay 90 per cent of the bill.

It means that, on average, supermarkets and retailers pay £18 per tonne towards recycling. In other European countries, firms pay up to £133 per tonne for recycling, according to the figures provided to the Environmental Audit Committee.

Louise Edge of Greenpeace said taking action to protect the oceans required greater openness from the supermarkets and others about the amount of plastic they produce.

Supermarkets declare the amount of plastic packaging they use to Val- pak, a commercial compliance company, from which the amount they need to contribute towards recycling is calculated. Adrian Hawkes of Valpak confirmed the data was covered by a privacy agreement.