Is the government going soft in its war on plastic?

It’s been yet another turbulent period for Defra and the industry’s war on plastic.

Angela Eagle is back at the department, this time with the top job, but circular economy minister Mary Creagh last week become the latest political casualty of Defra’s revolving door, as ministerial reshuffles continue to disrupt continuity. 

“That’s politics,” she remarked on her LinkedIn page, as the department said goodbye to one of its most respected parliamentary figures and one of the few ministers to have provided any real continuity at Defra in recent years.

On the policy front, key commitments have also been jettisoned, most notably the decision to delay the rollout of kerbside soft-plastic collection by local authorities by a further three years. The measures had originally been due to come into force next April.

In some respects the decision was not a surprise. It follows months of pressure from local authorities and waste management bodies such as Biffa, warning they were simply nowhere near ready for a comprehensive launch of soft plastic collections.

It could even be seen as a welcome dose of realism from Defra, which critics may argue has not always been the case.

‘Zero plan for investment’

The delays have once again made Defra an easy target for critics, particularly over its controversial Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) strategy. Both retailers and manufacturers have been quick to remind us that EPR was supposed to speed up the rollout of local authority recycling infrastructure, not slow it down.

“The whole deal was that [councils would] collect and reprocess flexibles,” says one industry source. “The government has gone back on it and has zero plan for investment in our sclerotic infrastructure.”

The wider concern, of course, is that producers are being asked to take on higher costs without seeing the improvements they were originally promised. “With inadequate infrastructure to reprocess these materials, and a broken market, producers will wonder why they’re spending all this money on a promise that recycling systems will improve,” the source adds.

More worryingly for Defra – and for consumers wanting to do the right thing with plastic – The Grocer today revealed growing fears that supermarkets will start to ditch their soft plastic collections at the front of stores, which have become a common feature in recent years.

Retailers are increasingly questioning why they should spend millions on such facilities, while still coughing up £1.5bn a year in EPR fees, only for local authorities to be given even more time to get their act together and meet their own recycling obligations?

The frustration is understandable. EPR was sold to industry as a grand bargain: producers would shoulder higher costs in return for significant improvements in recycling infrastructure and collection systems. With key milestones now being pushed back, some are questioning whether the government is keeping its side of the deal.

Oh, to be a fly on the wall during the ongoing discussions between PackUK and the industry-led UK Packaging PRO. The outcome will help determine what powers the new body inherits, including the extent of its oversight of local authority recycling performance and, crucially, how transparent that will be.

Those conversations may prove just as important to the future of EPR as any ministerial reshuffle.

Damaged investor confidence

While all sides have spoken of more collaboration in the war on plastic, there is precious little sign of it happening thus far.

Indeed, criticism of EPR intensified again this week, with new prime minister Andy Burnham being urged to step in over fears that millions of products – such as coffee cups and takeaway containers – could switch back to single-use plastic because of the “perverse consequences” of the tax.

The Alliance for Fibre-Based Packaging (AFBP), which speaks for the manufacturers of fibre and fibre/paper composite (FBC) used by tens of thousands of coffee shops and takeaway businesses, delivered a paper to 10 Downing Street on Friday calling for reform.

Its claims are hotly disputed by environmental campaign groups and advocates of re-use systems who claim that industry lobbying is ignoring the basic principle: that EPR is supposed to discourage the use of products that are hard to recycle.

Yet amid the raging rows, there is a real danger that investor confidence in the circular economy is at risk of being damaged just at the time it is needed most.

And with different policies in England, Wales and Scotland emerging left right and centre on the major sustainability and recycling strategies, confusion is growing not just within the industry but among consumers as well. And at a time when participation and trust are critical to improving recycling rates, that may prove one of the biggest challenges of all.