Councils call for tougher packaging law

EU law allows trading standards to force firms to cut down on packaging, but loopholes mean it is not being enforced

The Local Government Association (LGA) has reiterated calls for a toughening up of European legislation governing the amount of packaging firms use on their products, insisting that loopholes in the law mean many businesses are getting away with using excessive packaging.

Under EU directive 94/62/EC, which was passed into UK law in 1999, firms have to ensure that "packaging volume and weight be limited to the minimum adequate amount to maintain the necessary level of safety, hygiene and acceptance for the packed product and for the consumer".

But according to the LGA a loophole in the legislation means that there has only been four successful prosecutions under the law since it was introduced, despite numerous reports highlighting widespread use of excess packaging by many retailers and manufacturers.

"Trading Standards has the power to step in and stop firms using excess packaging under EU law, but it is just not working" said an LGA spokesman. "All the company has to do to avoid prosecution is demonstrate the customer wants the packaging, so they get a few testimonies together saying the customer wants the packaging and they get away with it."

He added that the LGA was lobbying for this loophole to be closed in order to make it easier for Trading Standards to prosecute firms that use excess packaging.

Speaking earlier this year, LGA chairman Sandy Bruce-Lockhart said that the organisation would also push for the maximum fine under the legislation of £5,000 to be increased. "There's no incentive for manufacturers to cut down on packaging," he said. "£5,000 is a drop in the ocean for big companies. Only serious fines will act as a genuine deterrent to over-packaging."

The calls come as new EU research revealed that the UK is the "dustbin of Europe", guilty of dumping more household waste in landfill than any other country in the EU.

The LGA said that despite improvements in recycling rates, the UK was still lagging behind its European counterparts. It warned that councils, businesses and householders must do more to tackle the problem or risk the UK being fined up to £200m by the EU under its landfill directive. Any such fines would have to be paid from council tax revenues, meaning an increase in taxes would be all but inevitable.

The chairman of the LGA Environment Board, councillor Paul Bettison, said an "urgent and radical overhaul" of waste practices was required and called for wider support for so-called "pay as you throw" rubbish charging schemes, which he attempted to reposition as "save as you throw" schemes.

"The 'save-as-you-throw' powers [which are to be included in the government's imminent climate change bill] should help to encourage people to take more responsibility for the way they throw their rubbish away," Bettison said. "If councils introduce save-as-you-throw schemes it will be to promote recycling, not to generate extra cash through an extra stealth tax."