Supermarket packaging: How much can really be recycled? Store-by-store investigation

Mr Gove said: “I commend the Telegraph for shining a spotlight on this important issue. The experience of these families is an all too familiar one for lots of households across the country.

“Supermarkets have a clear responsibility to cut unnecessary packaging, but we are also fully committed to playing our part as the government.

“That’s why I have set out ambitious plans to end the confusion over recycling. Through our game-changing Resources and Waste Strategy, we will introduce consistent recycling for all households, as well as consistent labelling on packaging so consumers know what they can recycle.”

The results of the Telegraph’s survey come as the government is set to miss its target to recycle 50% of all household waste by 2020, with levels of recycling stalling over recent years.

Councils do not have a uniform recycling policy, leaving households faced with a bewildering array of different systems across the country.

The supermarket with the highest proportion of non-recyclable plastic or confusing labelling was Tesco, with 73% of the plastic either not recyclable, no information to tell customers how to dispose of it or with confusing labelling for different parts of the packaging.

Morrison’s came in second with 70% of packaging not recyclable or with confusing labelling, Sainsbury’s with 69% and Waitrose with 60%.

The survey also revealed that some of the supermarkets’ own brand packaging often fell short compared to other household brands. Some of the own brand packaging had no labelling at all to tell customers whether they could recycle items.

Supermarket bosses have called for retailers to be forced to introduce binary labelling that clearly informs consumers whether a product is recyclable or not.

Stuart Lendrum, Head of Packaging at Iceland, and Karen Graley, Packaging Manager at Waitrose, recently told the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee that the government must introduce laws to simplify the current system which uses dozens of symbols, most of which the pubic does not understand.

The Telegraph recently launched a Zero Waste campaign calling on the government, local councils and private companies to do more to boost the country’s recycling rates and make the process simpler.

The British Retail Consortium called for uniform recycling schemes across the country.

Andrew Opie, Director of Food and Sustainability at the BRC, said: “To improve household recycling rates further, the Government must ensure consistent recycling schemes across all local authorities. Consumers need to know what packaging can be recycled, whether they’re in Lands End or John o’Groats.”

A Sainsbury’s spokesman said: “Our aim is that all our own brand plastic packaging should be recyclable, reusable or compostable and we are committed to achieving that by 2023.

“We strive to ensure that all our own brand plastic packaging contains clear recycling instructions. We support mandatory labelling and consistent communications to customers and would welcome a joined-up approach by local authorities so that customers can be clear what they can recycle at the kerbside.”

A Tesco spokesman said: “We’re reviewing all our packaging, including plastic, looking to remove where possible. Where it’s not right to remove we will reduce, help customers reuse and ensure all packaging can be recycled. We are checking our product labels as part of this process and will make improvements wherever required.”

A Waitrose spokeswoman said: “This sample shop doesn't reflect the recyclability of our range. Currently 85% of our own label packaging is recyclable.

"We have also a wide range of loose fruit and veg, and were commended by Kantar (June 2019) as having a higher proportion of loose produce than any other retailer. However, this would not be reflected in your figures as only one loose item was selected for this shop.

"We recognise the need to improve the clarity of our labelling and are moving to simplified messages where each product would be marked either 'recyclable' or 'not recyclable’."

A Morrison's spokeswoman said: "Currently 82% of our own brand packaging by weight is recyclable." 

The Rutherford family - Sainsbury’s 

Family and lifestyle blogger Laura Rutherford and her husband film and TV location manager Tye and their two sons Harry, 10 and Stanley, 4, were shocked to discover that less than half of their weekly shop had recyclable packaging.

Their shop from the Sainsbury’s store in Ladbroke Grove had 45 items that were packaged with 31% able to be recycled.

Of the 45 products, 14 were clearly recyclable, 11 were not recyclable and 20 had confusing labelling.

This means that 69% of the weekly shop was either not recyclable or confusing and 18 of these 31 items were Sainsbury’s own brand.

The family, who live in Notting Hill, London, were shocked to find fruit and vegetables in non-recyclable plastic such as Sainsbury’s tender stem and fine beans.

Mrs Rutherford said: “There’s loads of fruit and veg which is something that doesn’t need to be in plastic at all.”

Kensington and Chelsea`council provide their residents with clear plastic bags to be filled with all recyclables.

Despite this, Mr Rutherford said: “You really do have to go label by label packet by packet rather than just thinking ‘oh we can throw all of that in’. 

“Some boroughs get fined if they get their bins wrong, I think that’s really unfair on the general public. We’re trying but if you make a mistake they can come down on you quite hard.” 

He added that the use of bags for life “is a sure sign that we’re ready but it’s just up to the supermarkets now to stop wrapping things in plastic like cucumbers - it would be like wrapping a watermelon in a plastic.” 

Mrs Rutherford said: “Manufacturers need to take full responsibility, we want to be conscious of what we can but it’s just not practical.” 

She added that supermarkets should have “a traffic light system” on packaging. 

Learning about the effects of plastic at school, 10-year-old Harry, said: “I hope that when I’m older it will be a totally plastic-free for the whole world.” 

Daniel Kelly and Grace Carey - Tesco 

Daniel Kelly, 28, and Grace Carey, 25, who live in Fulham, London, with their kitten, Boudica, told the Telegraph of their frustration at not being able to “do their bit”.

They spent just under £75 on their weekly food shop from Tesco, purchasing 39 items – just two of which had no packaging.

Of the other 37 products, 10 were clearly recyclable, 14 were not recyclable and 13 had confusing labelling – such as indicating the packaging was only partly recyclable, or asking them to check whether their local authority handled the material.

That means that 73% of the products were either not recyclable or had confusing labelling. Nearly all of these products – 24 out of 27 – were Tesco own brand.

Mr Kelly, who works in marketing, said he had become more aware of the issue of recycling in recent years.

He said: “Especially in the last few months you see so much more on TV that you become aware of it. For me it’s annoying – you want to do your bit but they’re stopping you.”

“It’s things like this that annoy me,” said Ms Carey, who works in advertising. She was referring to a bag of courgettes which are kept in plastic packaging and she questioned why they could not be delivered loose, without a bag.

The product’s label says the bag is “not yet recycled”.

Mr Kelly said: “I definitely think with these [courgettes] – paper bags are surely an easy solution? We eat quite healthily so we order loads of vegetables, so why not stick it in paper bags?”

Some of the items were packaged without labels, including Tesco brown onions which came in netting, and the Tesco finest British Jewel raspberries, cherries and Tesco Finest Orange Rapture Tomatoes which came in plastic punnets.

Mr Kelly said: “I don’t know how it’s legal to have stuff like that without labelling.”

Ms Carey wondered whether recycling labels should be treated like nutrition, “where you have to state on it very clearly – some things have to have stamps of approval and [recycling] should be one of them”.

The couple also questioned why the red meat items they had bought – bacon and beef – were delivered in two separate Tesco plastic bags – which are difficult to recycle.

Deborah Lynch, Kelvin Page and Tobias Lynch - Morrison’s

Bereavement counsellor Deborah Lynch and her partner Kelvin Page and 30-year-old son Tobias were stunned to hear that 65% of the packaging in their weekly shop was non-recyclable or had confusing labelling.

“I’m astounded it’s so much,” Ms Lynch said. “We shop at Morrison’s because I like the fact they do wonky fruit and you can go in and pick all sorts of things but the fact that they then package with non-recyclable material isn’t very good and it will make us think. Now I’m going to be like ‘actually, if it’s this big and I can’t recycle it, I don’t know if I want it in my house’.”

The family all agreed that everybody needs to do their bit to help the environment. Mr Page, a retired accountant, pointed out that the five pence charge on carrier bags has “made a difference”.

Ms Lynch said supermarkets should clearly label on their packaging “whether it’s recyclable and where it ends up, so to landfill or somewhere else.”

“We’ve got used to the traffic light system now. So there’s no reason why the information on recycling shouldn’t be clearly on the front of a packet,” she added.

Ms Lynch also said she would be willing to fork out more for her weekly shop if the extra cost was used by retailers to improve their recycling practices. “I’d rather pay an extra £5 on my shopping if I thought it was going to make a difference.”

Mike Taylor, Caroline Kenny and Agnes and Cormac Kenny-Taylor - Waitrose 

Mike Taylor and his family in Bath are regular Waitrose shoppers but he had concerns that no supermarket is going far enough to tackle the use of non-recyclable packaging.

“Supermarkets aren’t doing enough to provide packaging that’s recyclable, because irrespective of which supermarket you go to there’s a lot of own brand goods that don’t stand out from, say, a Heinz item [for its recyclable packaging].”

Mr Taylor and his partner, Caroline, and their two children, nine-year-old Agnes and 11-year-old Cormac, try to do their bit to recycle as much as possible. “We probably veer on the put it in the recycling bin and assume it’s ok, without being lazy and just lumping everything in,” Mr Taylor said.

“With the fruit boxes you have that funny polystyrene on the bottom and I presume that isn’t recyclable so you rip that out and then put that in the bin and you think – there’s a lot of manual handling there, I imagine most people would just chuck it in and then it’s contamination.”

Mr Taylor pointed out there’s no point in supermarkets providing confusing labelling because this will mean only the most committed customers will make sure they recycle as much as possible.