There are not many bigger issues dominating The Grocer’s debut Green Week than the dreaded thud of the first EPR invoices landing.

With food manufacturers forecast, by the government itself, to be hit with a £1.4bn price tag, this is a moment many suppliers had secretly hoped would never arrive – despite a widespread acceptance that the overall case for the “polluter pays” principal behind EPR is sound.

Yet a shocking revelation today, from a rather unlikely source, suggests that, despite both supermarket bosses and branded suppliers warning the government EPR will contribute to food inflation, there has been precious little communication between the two parties – if indeed any at all.

A YouGov “deep dive” survey released at the Groceries Code Adjudicator’s conference in London today revealed that as of June, the majority of the 28 major branded suppliers who were grilled for the survey had received no communication at all from their supermarket customers over EPR.

A wall of silence

As one supplier comments, the “wall of silence” from supermarkets is truly “mind-blowing”. Sadly, one of the consequences is it may weaken otherwise largely justified calls from the sector for ministers to take further action to mitigate the impact of the packaging tax – especially with the Chancellor’s next budget looming.

The lack of communication over EPR comes as the poll also reveals there is an increasing wind of uncertainty blowing through the sector due to environmental issues that didn’t exist – or at least were certainly far less pronounced – when GSCOP was first introduced.

YouGov found the huge costs of EPR and the impact of global warming on supply chains were among major factors making grocery a more volatile and challenging environment, despite an otherwise improving picture when it comes to retailer behaviour.

The fact that only 30% of suppliers raised an issue with GSCOP in the past year, down from 33% the year before, is a real sign of progress, along with the fact that 52% of suppliers had no issues at all.

But try telling that to manufacturers opening their first EPR invoices, peeking through their fingers, accompanied by nothing more from their supermarket “partners” than an eerie silence…

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