Supermarket backs ‘War on waste campaign'

Supermarket chain Morrison’s has pledged its support for the LGA’s ‘War on waste’ campaign.

Speaking at a Smith Square debate this week, Morrison’s chief executive Marc Bolland backed the LGA’s initiative to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill, and announced the supermarket’s own campaign to reduce food waste.

Cllr Paul Bettison, chairman of the LGA’s environment board, told the debate that councils are still processing 28 million tonnes of waste a year, just over half of which is sent to landfill.

LGA research has found that food packaging constitutes a significant proportion of landfill waste. The findings of the LGA’s third survey of food packaging showed that almost 40% of supermarket packaging cannot be easily recycled.

As well as the detrimental environmental impact of sending waste to landfill, if action is not taken to reduce the amount, taxpayers will also pay the price in higher council tax bills.

Landfill tax is currently £40 per tonne, which is set to rise to £48 per tonne by 2010. At current rates of landfill, the tax will cost councils and council taxpayers £620m this year.

Cllr Bettison called for the cost of recycling packaging to be shouldered by supermarkets.

 At the ‘Is excessive packaging undermining the war on waste?’ debate, Mr Bolland said Morrison’s, one of the eight supermarkets reviewed in the LGA survey, fully supports the LGA’s aim to reduce landfill waste, but that food waste needs to be tackled alongside packaging.

He said: “Morrison’s wants to reduce waste, and we’ve made progress in packaging, but we don’t choose to shout about it.

“Our focus now is food waste, which constitutes 12 million tonnes per year, compared to 10.7 million tonnes of packaging – they have to go hand in hand.

” The supermarket’s “Great taste, less waste” campaign aims to educate consumers on how to keep food fresh, store it properly and use leftovers, to save customers around £600 a year each.

 “This is a priority for the pocket of customers and for the planet,” said Mr Bolland.

“But good packaging helps to reduce waste and we have to acknowledge that.

” The LGA launched ‘War on waste’ in 2007 after research showed that Britain dumps more household waste into landfill than any other country in the European Union.