Supermarkets told - cut waste!

9.03.00am BST (GMT +0100) Mon 21st Jul 2008

A North West Euro-MP has called on supermarkets to slash unnecessary packaging in a bid to reduce Britain's huge waste mountain.

A new report by the Local Government Association (LGA) shows that up to 38 per cent of packaging in a regular household shopping basket cannot be recycled.

Each year the UK generates around 26 million tonnes of household waste - two thirds of which goes to landfill, more than almost every other EU country.

Chris Davies expressed disappointment that new EU laws will not requirement governments to prepare waste prevention strategies until 2014.

Speaking in the European Parliament the Liberal Democrat MEP said that Marks & Spencer has committed itself to a 25% reduction in packaging waste by 2012 and some other supermarkets have agreed a similar approach.

"More could be achieved if governments show the political will to demand it," he said.

Three years ago Chris Davies launched his own 'scrap the wrap' campaign against fruit and vegetables wrapped in plastic coverings.

Angry that EU rules were sometimes blamed for cucumbers, apples and even swedes being sold in shrink-wrapped plastic sleeves, Chris Davies insisted that the fault lay entirely with British supermarkets.

The Liberal Democrat MEP said: "There is no EU requirement for fruit and vegetables to be sold like this, and it doesn't happen to the same extent in other European countries. Our supermarkets are simply obsessed with producing excessive packaging.

"It's time the supermarkets stopped making false claims about consumer preferences and asked people directly whether they want so much packaging. Everyone who returns from a supermarket shop to find themselves buried in unwanted packaging will give them a very strong response.

Recycling rates have increased to 33 per cent in England as local people do their bit to reduce the amount of waste thrown away but the battle against excess packaging continues.

Latest figures show that 4.6 million tons of packaging waste are increasing local grocery bills and choking landfill sites across the country.

Last year the Co-op led the way by unsheathing cucumbers from their plastic wrappers and instead packing them in boxes with breathable liners