29% of supermarket packaging not recyclable

Up to 29 per cent of plastic packaging used by supermarkets is either non-recyclable or difficult to recycle, an investigation has revealed.

Consumer organisation Which? analysed the packaging on a shopping basket of 27 everyday own-brand items at 10 major supermarkets and found that Lidl had the lowest proportion of widely recyclable packaging at just 71 per cent. Meanwhile, Iceland, Ocado and Sainsbury’s were also close to the bottom of the pile, with less than three quarters of their packaging able to be recycled.

However, rivals like top performer Morrisons had found greener alternatives such as a widely recyclable plastic box for a chocolate cake, while Lidl’s cake came in mixed packaging comprising a nonrecyclable film within a widely recyclable box with a nonrecyclable window.

Some groceries had nonrecyclable packaging no matter which supermarket they came from.

All the packaged easypeel oranges, for example, came in nets with plastic labels.