Plastic pollution: government accused of 'letting polluters off the hook' over delay to packaging reform

The government has been criticised for delaying packaging reforms which it claims will help drive down inflation, with activists accusing it of pandering to big polluters.

Defra - the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs - has announced new rules to ensure packaging producers pay for the cost of recycling their packaging will be deferred a year, from October 2024 to 2025.

It maintained that the government remained committed to delivering on its commitments to eliminate avoidable waste by 2050, and recycle 65% of municipal waste by 2035 - and the extended producer responsibility (EPR) scheme would eventually play a central part in that mission.

The decision was made in light of the pressures facing consumers and businesses in the current economic context, the department said in a statement. The government would use the extra year to "continue to discuss the scheme’s design with industry" and "reduce the costs of implementation wherever possible".

In anticipation, many producers had already started to use less packaging and adopt easier-to-recycle packaging formats, Defra said, "and we expect this process to continue – ensuring that costs are not then passed onto households later on".

Greenpeace UK's plastics campaign lead Nina Schrank slammed the delay as "yet another sign of the government’s dismal environmental record".

"This isn’t about helping people struggling with the cost of living but simply letting big polluters off the hook," she continued. "The simple fact is that big companies who are pumping out single-use plastic need to produce far, far less of it in the first place."

Ms Schrank said the point of the scheme had been to make sure it was the big plastic polluters, rather than the public, who paid to clean up the mess.

"There’s overwhelming public support for cutting plastic waste yet the government is willing to break a key manifesto promise to please plastic producers," she said. "It’s increasingly clear the real winners from any rolling back of green policy are big plastic and carbon polluters with the public left squarely as the losers.”

The decision was largely welcomed by the industry. Sainsbury’s CEO Simon Roberts said: "Whilst we remain absolutely committed to a circular economy and support the introduction of EPR, we welcome today’s announcement.

"This will provide the necessary time to work across our industry and with government in order to get EPR right first time," he said. "This decision is also an important step in minimising further pressure on food inflation and we will continue to focus on delivering the best value to customers in the coming months."