Businesses to pay for environmental costs of packaging

The introduction of the Extended Producer Responsibility scheme will ensure businesses will pay more for packaging that is harder to reuse or recycle

Businesses are to be charged for the environmental costs of the packaging of their products, according to the Scottish Government.

The announcement follows a UK-wide consultation setting out plans for producers to be made responsible for the waste created by their products, ensuring that more packaging is made recyclable or reusable.

The introduction of the Extended Producer Responsibility scheme will ensure businesses will pay more for packaging that is harder to reuse or recycle, encouraging them to use less packaging and use more recyclable materials.

The money generated will be used to fund improved local recycling collections of packaging waste from households.

Currently, packaging producers pay only around 10% of the cost of dealing with packaging waste.

In addition, larger coffee shops, fast food chains and others that sell drinks in disposable paper cups will have to provide a dedicated bin to collect and recycle them from 2024.

More than 12 million tonnes of packaging waste are produced in the UK every year, with a substantial proportion of that ending up in landfill.

Scottish Circular Economy Minister Lorna Slater said: “Too many products still come wrapped in unnecessary or hard to recycle packaging, much of which ends up in landfill or incineration.

“Pricing in the environmental costs of packaging will encourage businesses to either use less or make the switch to more sustainable alternatives. Not only will this reduce waste and emissions, it will also help cut the amount of packaging littering our streets, parks and beaches.

“We know people want to do the right thing with waste in their homes, but still find it tricky to know what can be recycled, so all packaging will also have standardised recycling labels. This will make it easier for people to recycle packaging correctly.”

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