Environment

The Packaging Federation has called on the Scottish government to avoid legislating on packaging reduction and has claimed that new regulations on single-use carrier bags would "trivialise" the environmental debate.

In its response to a Holyrood consultation on potential legislative measures that would lead to a zero-waste Scotland, the Federation said that there was no case for new laws to reduce packaging.

The consultation, which closed last Friday, had suggested giving powers to the Scottish government to set statutory targets on retailers for packaging reductions.

However, the Federation’s response argued that removing packaging altogether would bring a return to 1950’s-style shopping. The use of legislation to force people to give up today’s lifestyle, and return to that of 50 years ago, is extremely unlikely to work, it said.

The response, written by Packaging Federation chief executive Dick Searle, added that rare cases of excess packaging should be dealt with by the intelligent enforcement of the Essential Requirement Regulations rather than by new rules.

However, it rejected proposed legislation for the collection of excess packaging in larger supermarkets.

The Federation also rejected suggestions that the Scottish Government should legislate to force retailers to charge for single-use carrier bags but should instead focus on voluntary measures.

However, it added that the environmental impact of carrier bags was tiny within the total environmental context. Action in this area runs the real risk of trivialising the whole environmental/carbon debate, it said.

Elsewhere, the Federation came out in support of legislation that would allow the Scottish Government to force public sector bodies and businesses to provide recycling facilities.

Click here to read the full consultation document.