Call to ban one billion ‘wasted’ retail receipts

● Environmentalists believe the slips of paper should be given only on request

Calls have been made to ban retailers from issuing printed receipts unless customers specifically request, in a move environmental campaigners say could save up to a billion pieces of paper ending up in landfill in Scotland.

More than 11 billion receipts are dished out each year across the UK, including one billion north of the Border.

The majority cannot be recycled because they’re coated with chemicals and contaminate other paper.

New laws banning retailers from issuing printed receipts unless customers specifically request them could save up to a billion pieces of paper ending up in landfill in Scotland, according to environmental campaigners.

The move would benefit both public health and the planet, they say.

More than 11 billion receipts are dished out each year across the UK, including one billion north of the Border.

Most end up chucked away with barely a second glance – nearly 10 billion, which is equivalent to 53,000 trees going straight in the bin.

By weight, the country generates about 7.5 million kg of waste each year from receipts.

Although the little slips of paper are more degradable than materials such as plastic, the majority cannot be recycled because they’re coated with chemicals and contaminate other paper.

Compounds used in printers for tills, credit card machines and cashpoints have also been identified as hormone disrupt ors, linked to fertility problems and diseases such as breast cancer.

And then there’s the environmental impact – millions of barrels of oil and water are used to produce the paper.

Some retailers now offer customers the option to refuse a paper receipt or to receive an electronic version, but campaigners insist more could be done to eliminate this unnecessary waste.

Dr Richard Dixon, director of Friends of the Earth Scotland, believes new legislation that outlaws automatic receipts would result in an immediate and drastic reduction in the amount created.

Writing in The Scotsman today, Dr Dixon said: “There used to be security reasons to have a receipt but nowadays smart scanners, automated tills and card payments mean most shops know more about our buying habits than we do ourselves.

“Some shops now email you a receipt rather than give you anything on paper. Some shops already ask if you want a receipt before printing one and there is no reason that this could not become the legal requirement, slashing the number of receipts overnight.

“Till receipts do not make up a huge volume of our waste but, like plastic shopping bags, they are symbolic of our wasteful habits, because they are something we come across every day.”

He is calling for the Scottish Government’s Expert Panel, set up to encourage sustainable consumer and producer behaviour, to consider a ban.

Environment secretary Roseanna Cunningham said: “Reducing waste and encouraging people to recycle is key in our development towards a more circular economy.

“We are aware that many retailers have rolled out digital receipts systems in recent years. This is indicative of a move away from paper receipts within the retail sector – with more and more businesses asking customers if they want paper receipts or offering the option of a digital receipt – which is very positive, and we hope these systems will be more widely used in the future.

“The Expert Panel, formed to look at issues around singleuse items, is focused on identifying measures to tackle plastic pollution. They are currently considering items which are challenging to recycle, such as single-use disposable beverage cups, as a priority.”

A bill banning printed receipts except by request has cleared its first hurdle in the state legislature of California .

Last month California published a bill which would outlaw paper till receipts unless the customer specifically asks for one. In Scotland, we get through a billion receipts a year. That’s about 8,000 trees’ worth. Globally till receipts account for 25 million trees felled and 22 million barrels of oil used. Most receipts go straight in the bin without anyone even looking at them.

There used to be security reasons to have a receipt but nowadays smart scanners, automated tills and card payments mean most shops know more about our buying habits than we do ourselves.

Some shops now email you a receipt rather than give you anything on paper. Some shops already ask if you want a receipt before printing one and there is no reason that this could not become the legal requirement, slashing the number of receipts overnight.

Till receipts do not make up a huge volume of our waste but, like plastic shopping bags, they are symbolic of our wasteful habits, because they are something we come across every day. The levy on plastic bags has been hugely successful, avoiding thousands of tonnes of plastic waste every year.

The plastic bag levy and the huge concern over the devastating impact of waste plastic in our seas and oceans have changed people’s thinking and habits, with supermarkets still struggling to catch up with the idea that we don’t want broccoli shrink wrapped in plastic or a plastic bag around a bunch of bananas.

There are two more reasons to reduce the number of till receipts we produce. Most of them are printed by thermal printers, which means the paper has to have a special chemical composition. This means the receipts are not recyclable with ordinary paper and so contaminate other paper if they are put into recycling bins.

In addition, the chemicals used in printers for tills, cash machines and credit card machines are also a concern. Still in use is a chemical called Bisphenol-a (BPA), now banned in baby bottles because it can interfere with the body’s hormone system. As early as the 1930s, it was found to mimic the female hormone oestrogen and has been linked to breast cancer, infertility, early puberty and diseases of the nervous system in children. It’s found in all of us but it turns up in elevated levels in the urine of shop workers who operate tills. The EU has agreed to ban it in till receipts from the start of next year. Sadly, the main substitute is the very similar Bisphenol-s (BPS), which the EU’S chemicals agency described as having very similar dangers to BPA and they also said it should not be used to replace BPA. Despite this warning, the use of BPS in thermal printer paper doubled between 2016 and 2017.

The Scottish Government has an expert group looking at packaging and waste. It is expected to recommend a levy on coffee cups soon, but also has the power to look more widely at related waste. They would seem the ideal group to look at what we should do about till receipts.

The plastic bag levy was a charge to encourage people to change their behaviour to something less wasteful. The new proposals to ban plasticstemmed cotton buds and plastic straws are interesting because they actually ban something rather than just try to encourage a change in behaviour. Similar action on till receipts could reduce waste, simplify recycling and protect people from harmful chemicals. l Dr Richard Dixon is director of Friends of the Earth Scotland