The plastic bag charge has been a resounding success. In the past decade, the number of plastic bags found on UK beaches has fallen by 80%, it emerged this week.
Notably, it’s a change that was brought about by law. It’s a pertinent point as we assess progress on reusable packaging. In the past few years, countless pilots have come and gone. And in the past month alone, Asda has scrapped refillable trials, while an M&S-backed reusable initiative has been delayed.
It’s important to put these setbacks into context. The M&S tie-up is still tipped to be a game-changer, while Ocado is understood to be rolling out a scheme with the Refill Coalition imminently. And despite wariness, there has been some success with customer uptake – in Aldi stores with refills, products in that format are contributing 30% of sales in their categories.
Still, it’s important to recognise the hurdles at play. System-wide change is never easy and currently, there is little incentive to be among the pioneers – who don’t yet have any economies of scale – while there’s no penalty for sitting on your hands. It’s a different story in the EU, which has brought in legislation on packaging (PPWR). France has gone one step further by legally requiring large supermarkets to dedicate 20% of surface space to food refill stations by 2030 (to much backlash).
Labour has voiced its commitment to the circular economy this week, but it is unlikely to be keen on more regulation – especially on an industry that is already battling with EPR and DRS. So it stands to reason efforts are currently being led on a voluntary basis by Wrap, which last week set a goal for supermarkets to sell 30% of products as reusables by 2035 – a date that seems ambitious, even if it is a decade away. The first test of its roadmap will come next year, by which point supermarkets should have identified suitable categories.
In the meantime, perhaps the most important thing is to adopt the right mindset. As one inside source puts it, there is no “magic bullet” for such a complex, wholesale change – and no option to continue with the status quo. So for now, we must applaud those taking positive steps of their own volition.
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