Rift over packaging waste still to be bridged

A consultation paper setting out options for imposing a legal obligation on businesses in the packaging chain to ensure the recovery of packaging waste was issued by the Government at the end of May.¹ Many packaging firms subsequently pushed for an approach based on a "duty of care" for packaging waste which had passed through a company and ended up with the consumer - but this has already been rejected by the Government. Meanwhile, the credibility of voluntary producer responsibility initiatives is being undermined by continuing slippage in the industry's aims and timetables for boosting packaging waste recovery.