FPA blasts Environmental Services Association’s call for litter levy

From: Packaging News

The Foodservice Packaging Association (FPA) has criticised the Environmental Services Association’s (ESA) call for big brands to pay for clearing litter.

The ESA policy paper called for global brands such as McDonald’s, Coca Cola, Costa Coffee and Wrigley should be a “big part of the solution” to the amount of litter in the UK, by working with the Government to implement an Extended Produce Responsibility (EPR) scheme.

The EPR scheme would see companies such as PepsiCo, Cadbury’s and Carlsberg adopt “levies” per product sold in order to generate funds to help local authorities deal with the £800m costs of cleaning up litter in the UK annually.

Under the ESA’s proposals, manufacturers of chewing gum and cigarettes would have to pay a 5p tax per product – cigarettes alone could generate £150m annually, while chewing gum – which costs 3p to produce compared to £1.50 to clean-up – would raise around £60m for authorities.

ESA’s executive director Jacob Hayler said: “Cigarette butts and chewing gum are some of the most littered items in the UK. Transferring the cost of preventing and clearing up these items from the public to the private purse could save local authorities in the region of £300 million each year.

“This money would be used by local authorities to cover litter clean-up costs or to help fund anti-litter campaigns. We are also calling on the Government to consider the role that EPR could play in its forthcoming litter strategy.”

The FPA said that by calling for the Government to implement an EPR scheme to make business pay for litter, the ESA is shifting the blame from those who drop litter on to those who produce the items that litter offenders drop.

“The ESA proposal makes scant reference to changing the behaviour of those who litter and makes no reference to specific actions that will deter those in the public who drop litter from littering in the first place,” said Martin Kersh, FPA executive director.
He pointed out that a number of the businesses referenced by the ESA spend large sums on litter programmes and this should be recognised.

“We encourage all businesses, litter organisations, relevant NGO’s, local authorities, waste management and Government to work together to develop innovative solutions. The proposal from the ESA is not innovative and is simply punishing business and indeed ultimately those members of the public who dispose of used packaging and items in a responsible manner while those who litter will continue do so with knowing that business will pay for the results of their anti social behaviour.”

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