Tesco and Coca-Cola have joined forces to spearhead industry solutions to the plastic pollution crisis, The Grocer can reveal.
The companies are planning to support failing local authority recycling schemes, as well as offer new incentives for consumers to recycle packaging, as part of a new collaborative strategy.
Other partners include the Co-op and Heineken, with the “coalition” of companies drawing up proposals to offer local authorities a new market for the recycling of bottles, which they believe could prevent thousands of tonnes of plastic bottles going to landfill.
One source involved in the talks said: “So much plastic waste in out of home is currently being sent to landfill that we realised something has to be done about it. This coalition is being formed to try to bring the industry’s expertise and resources together to help.
“We want to be able to recover more of our product. That does not mean we will be funding local authority recycling. But we are interesting in creating a market for where that recycling could go, with our focus especially on the on-the-go sector where so much of this problem exists.
“We want a system that is joined up and one we can get behind.”
Sources said the companies were looking at trialling new recycling facilities at motorway service stations across the country. They were also investigating possible customer reward schemes, which could be used alongside or as an alternative to Bottle Deposit Return Schemes (DRS), in a bid to incentivise recycling.
Tesco announced in January that it was working with what were at the time unnamed suppliers to look at how a system of DRS being explored by environment secretary Michael Gove could work in the UK.
However, it also called for more a more holistic approach to crate “closed loop” systems for recovering plastic.
A source said while there was still influential support for DRS, the pilots would also look at how retailers and suppliers could provide rewards to consumers to try to encourage more recycling.
“There is a concern that the deposit side of DRS could negatively impact on consumers,” they said. “We are looking at whether we could provide a rewards system rather than a deposit system.”
The moves come as talks ramped up between the industry and government over what can be done to tackle plastic.
This week dozens of companies and trade organisations were involved in talks headed by officials including Gove’s senior adviser, Professor Tim Leunig, Wrap boss Marcus Gover and Steve Lee, director general of Resources & Waste UK.
The talks have been split into six different industry sectors and companies have been challenged to come up with ideas about how they can tackle what Gove has called “the scourge” of plastics pollution.
Last week chancellor Philip Hammond issued a call for evidence on plans including the possibility of new tax on single-use plastic products and packaging. Sources say the government is drawing up proposals for a tiered model, similar to the soft drinks levy on sugar, which would hit products depending on their plastic content.
In January, The Grocer revealed Wrap was in talks with retailers and suppliers to launch a major new commitment provisionally known as the Circular Plastics Commitment (CPC).
The new commitment, due to be launched next month, will effectively act as the plastics equivalent of the Courtauld Commitment and involve a raft of NGOs, including the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, multiple government bodies and waste organisations.
No comments yet