Checking out on Plastics III
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Checking Out on Plastics III January 2021 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABOUT EIA ABOUT GREENPEACE EIA UK CONTENTS 62-63 Upper Street, With support from John Ellerman We investigate and campaign against Greenpeace defends the natural Executive Summary 4 London N1 0NY UK Foundation. environmental crime and abuse. world and promotes peace by Introduction 6 T: +44 (0) 20 7354 7960 investigating, exposing and Background 7 “We aim to advance the wellbeing Our undercover investigations E: [email protected] confronting environmental abuse Methodology 8 of people, society and the natural expose transnational wildlife crime, eia-international.org and championing responsible Summary of results 10 world by focusing on the arts, with a focus on elephants and solutions for our fragile Targets 12 environment and social action. tigers, and forest crimes such as Environmental Investigation Agency UK environment. The plastic packaging footprint 13 We believe these areas can make illegal logging and deforestation for UK Charity Number: 1182208 Own-brand versus branded reductions 14 an important contribution to cash crops like palm oil. We work to Company Number: 07752350 Overall trends in this year’s survey 16 wellbeing.” safeguard global marine ecosystems Registered in England and Wales Retailer snapshot: highlights and lowlights 18 by addressing the threats posed Plastic bags 20 by plastic pollution, bycatch Single-use items 24 and commercial exploitation of Fruit and vegetables 28 whales, dolphins and porpoises. Reuse and refill 30 Finally, we reduce the impact of Recycling and recycled content 32 climate change by campaigning Online 33 to eliminate powerful refrigerant Convenience retailers 34 greenhouse gases, exposing related Conclusions 35 illicit trade and improving energy Recommendations 36 efficiency in the cooling sector. Glossary 38 References 39 2 Environmental Investigation Agency and Greenpeace CHECKING OUT ON PLASTICS III 3 Above: Plastic pollution is present on land and in oceans Above: Up to 13 million tonnes of plastic enters our around the world, with coastal communities often bearing ocean every year, harming marine wildlife, habitats Executive summary the brunt of clean-up efforts and biodiversity Key findings in this report: • During 2019, the 10 major supermarkets in the UK put • The number of plastic ‘bags for life’ (the heavier duty • Sainsbury’s and Aldi have market-leading targets to • Growth in online shopping should be seen as a 896,853 tonnes of plastic packaging on the market. reusable option to the thinner single-use carrier bags) cut plastic packaging from brand and own-brand major opportunity for reuse systems, for example by While this is a reduction of 1.6% over the previous issued by the supermarkets increased from 2018- goods by 50% by 2025. EIA and Greenpeace are doorstep delivery of reusable containers which can be year, it is a 1.2% increase compared to 2017 when the 19. More than 1.58 billion were issued in 2019, a 4.5% calling on other supermarkets to follow suit and picked up, washed and refilled before being sent out 10 put 886,021 tonnes of plastic packaging on the increase compared to 2018. This represents almost 57 also define the ‘how’ of plastic reduction by ensuring again. This business case can be seen in the work by market. bags per UK household during the year. their strategies include targets for the proportion of Tesco and its partnership with Loop. reduction that will be achieved by switching to reuse • Eight of the 10 retailers reduced their plastic • The number of single-use plastic carrier bags issued systems. We recommend that as part of reduction • Transparency and accuracy supported by packaging footprint from 2018-19, with more than half is decreasing year on year (by 33% from 2018-19), with efforts to at least halve plastic packaging, 25% of Government-mandated reporting for companies of the reductions by weight coming from Asda. several supermarkets banning them altogether. packaging should be reusable by 2025, with 50% is urgently needed for retailers and brands. There reusable by 2030. are ongoing challenges with consistency in data, • 10 UK supermarkets were ranked in terms of their • 2.5 billion plastic water bottles were sold or given particularly the data coming from brands.. efforts to reduce plastic pollution. The scorecard away in UK supermarkets in 2019. • Trials in reuse systems are picking up pace, but shows Waitrose at the top for the second consecutive these need to be rolled out nationally to have impact. • While recognising the frontline role supermarkets are year, with Iceland in tenth place. Of the five largest • Supermarket targets and reduction efforts are Reuse trials are ongoing at each end of the market, playing during the coronavirus pandemic, the sector UK supermarkets by market share, Aldi ranked first, primarily focused on own-brand plastic packaging, including the higher end retailers and discounters. must seize all opportunities to build back better and followed by Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda and Morrisons. with the result that the amount of packaging used for Good examples are Waitrose with its Unpacked store invest in sustainability and zero waste systems. branded goods is not reducing. trials and Asda testing the landscape for price parity • In 2019, 2.1 billion plastic carrier bags and ‘bags for on value products in its Middleton store before a life’ were issued by the top 10 supermarkets, an 8% potential wider roll-out. decrease on the number issued in 2018. 4 Environmental Investigation Agency and Greenpeace CHECKING OUT ON PLASTICS III 5 Introduction For the third year, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and Greenpeace UK have surveyed the major supermarkets and grocery retailers in the UK on their efforts to reduce plastic pollution. In 2018, our survey established a baseline of This third report analyses 2019 plastic use across commitments made by the sector and the 2017 state-of- the sector, with a view to understanding whether the play for plastic use in stores and supply chains based on companies were able to change course and make a the data provided by the retailers. In 2019, we measured tangible difference in reducing their plastic footprint. progress made and found that, despite the stated aims of many companies, the total volume of plastic packaging Below: A typical scene in a UK supermarket with had gone up in 2018, not down. shelves lined with plastic packaging Above left, right: Plastic pollutes throughout its entire lifecycle from production through to disposal. With limited domestic recycling infrastructure, landfill, waste exports and incineration prop up an unsustainable plastic packaging Background system Despite the huge public and policy attention to the plastic pollution crisis, business is booming for the plastics industry and the impacts of plastic pollution are evermore apparent. Up to 13 million tonnes of plastics leak into our oceans Supermarkets play a pivotal role in consumer annually,1 severely harming biodiversity, destroying consumption of plastic, with the influence and buying habitats and fostering a global plastic pollution crisis. power to set the pace of change, for example through This crisis is being driven by massive investment in packaging innovation, improved product design, delivery new plastic production facilities and the continued systems based on reuse models and shorter, more production of single-use and unnecessary plastic sustainable supply chains. packaging and products for a throwaway society.2 About 40% of plastic waste generated ends up in the Supermarkets in the UK have responded to the plastic environment3 and of the 8.3bn tonnes of virgin plastic pollution crisis in a number of ways. All top 10 UK produced worldwide, only 9% has been recycled.4 At the supermarkets have targets to reduce their plastic same time, the global plastics industry is on track to packaging footprint; however, several are limited to use 19% of the 1.5°C carbon budget by 2040, fuelling the own-brand goods and there are few specific targets climate change crisis.5 for reusable packaging. With bags and food wrappers being among the most common items found polluting Recent research has shown the UK as one of the major the oceans and entangling animals,8 plastic-free and global polluters; an estimated 99kg of plastic waste is reusable packaging solutions are urgently required to generated per person each year.6 This unsustainable prevent these problems at source. consumption perpetuates waste-dumping in developing countries, unsustainable landfill practices and climate- The environmental cost and the evidence base for wrecking plastic waste incineration. impacts of plastic pollution on human health make it clear that action is urgently needed. There is also Recent modelling of our plastic system predicted that if a clear business case for transitioning to a circular we continue on this business-as-usual trajectory, annual economy in which material value is recaptured rather flows of plastic into the ocean could nearly triple by than lost. According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2040. Even if all current major industry and government replacing just 20% of single-use packaging with reusable commitments are met, the world would see a reduction alternatives offers an opportunity worth at least $10 in annual rates of plastic pollution flowing into the ocean billion in areas such as user experiences, cost savings of only 7% from the business-as-usual scenario.7 and brand loyalty.9 6 Environmental Investigation Agency and Greenpeace CHECKING OUT ON PLASTICS III 7 Above: A common sight in UK supermarkets: row after in eliminating plastic pollution. We were particularly Table 1: Market share of 10 UK supermarkets. Source: Nielsen Homescan row of fruit and vegetables wrapped in single-use plastic hoping to see companies demonstrating reductions in packaging Methodology the quantities of plastic packaging on the shelves, as Market Share well as commitments for further reductions and shifting to reuse systems to ensure the long-term sustainable Retailer In 2020, our survey was sent to the top 10 supermarkets in the system change required.