Breaking the vicious recycle

Reduce, reuse, recycle. The trio of words which are wheeled out more easily than a shopping trolley when government campaigns want to make us consider the environment when we hit the supermarket.

Buy less, use up what we already have, and if we can’t do that, make sure what we purchase at least comes in packaging which is easily recyclable.

It all sounds straightforward enough, but figuring out just what is and isn’t recyclable can prove to be a minefield because the hieroglyphics used on packaging are so confusing.

A recent Which? study found that 48 per cent of us pick the wrong image when we’re looking for the one that means packaging should go in the recycle bin.

For instance, a green circle which contains two swirling arrows does not actually mean the packing is recyclable - though the majority of people would immediately assume it does. All it represents is that the manufacturer of the product has paid into a scheme that supports recyclable packaging.

Similarly the “mobius loop” - the three arrows pointing to each other in a triangular shape - does mean that the packaging is recyclable, but even then you don’t know if your local recycling centre will take it.

It’s little wonder then that 88 per cent of us think that labelling should be much clearer and indeed 86 per cent thought that all supermarket product packaging should be recyclable - with 69 per cent saying plastic is a bigger pollution problem than food waste.

That’s why Which? wants the Government to bring in clear, simple, consistent labelling of packaging so we all know what bin it should go in.

We know from the traffic light labelling on some food products telling us how much salt, sugar and fat is in them, that getting the right, easy-to-understand, symbols on packaging is vital if people are to change their habits.

Recycling is no different. It really should be as easy as the three Rs.

Send me your consumer queries to askalex@which. co.uk