Pay-as-you-throw will cost families £50 more unless packaging is recyclable

A NEW pay-as-you-throw recycling scheme being planned by councils will cost homeowners as much as £50 extra per year unless food packaging is overhauled, waste experts have warned.

The controversial pay-as-you-throw collection scheme, proposed by council chiefs, is designed to encourage people to recycle more by charging them for the weight of the general waste they put out.

But, according to Suez, one of Britain’s biggest waste collection companies, the move could leave millions of families worse off unless food manufacturers are forced to improve the recyclability of packaging.

Suez is calling for the Government to force food manufacturers to make all packaging sold in the UK at least 50 per cent recyclable by 2025.

At present, less than 10 per cent of packaging is recyclable. Without the increase, households could find their council bills rise by £50 a year under a pay-as-you-throw system, it warned.

Such a system for household blackbin rubbish should be phased in by 2030 as part of a “revolution” in boosting recycling and efficient use of materials, it said. The call comes as a poll revealed that almost a quarter of people felt that sandwich packaging or fast-food containers were the main cause of litter, while almost a fifth said crisp packets and sweet wrappers are most to blame, and one in seven thought plastic bottles were the main problem, the Yougov poll found.

Suez said it wanted producers to contribute more to the cost of collecting and recycling their products, such as coffee pods or pet-food pouches, and for them to operate refundable deposit systems for cans and plastic bottles. The deposit scheme charging consumers a levy on their bottles or cans – which they could reclaim by returning them for recycling – should apply to on-the-go plastic drinks bottles less than 750ml and drinks cans, with the deposit set at 10p.

David Palmer-jones, Suez chief executive, said: “We envisage a revolution ... where we truly value the materials flowing around the economy.

“Pay-as-you-throw for black-bag rubbish leaves a clear choice for households. They may see a reduction in their bills as they will be recycling far more.

“The opportunity for households to save money is huge if the Government follows through with proposals to make it easier to produce more recyclable goods and make manufacturers more responsible for producing more recyclable products.”