A recently commissioned survey commissioned by Tipa, a manufacturer of compostable packaging solutions headquartered in Israel, and conducted by YouGov has revealed that a large majority of UK adults favour the implementation of a collection system for all recyclable or compostable packaging from households across the UK.
The survey was conducted online among 1,734 adults, on15 - 16 November 2022. Commissioned by TIPA, a manufacturer of compostable packaging solutions and a founding member of Compostable Coalition UK, a UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) funded research project examining how compostable packaging can be effectively collected and organically recycled at scale, the outcome, said the company, showed wide public support for compostables. It also demonstrated a desire for the UK Government to do more to incentivise and support this industry.
When asked whether they felt Government, brands and retailers were making as much effort as possible (with 0 being the least and 10 being the most) to reduce plastic waste, the survey showed that over half of the public think Government, brands and retailers are not doing enough to tackle plastic waste.
Specifically, more than 60% of respondents expressed concerned about the amount of plastic waste created in their households from daily life and fully 86% of people also supported enabling the collection of compostable packaging alongside food waste.
Currently, almost half of England’s 326 local authorities – 160 councils – do not currently provide any food waste collections. The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs - known as DEFRA - is expected to present proposals for mandatory food waste collections from households in 2023.
The survey also showed that 85% of people supported banning conventional plastic packaging where alternative compostable solutions were available, with 70% of people viewing a product more positively when packaged in compostable packaging.
Daphna Nissenbaum, Co-founder and CEO of TIPA, noted that it was ‘encouraging’ to see such public support for compostables, but added that without Government investment and the appropriate policy frameworks, the required collection infrastructure would be ‘unlikely to be in place to respond to overwhelming consumer appetite to mainstream compostable packaging’.
“The findings of this poll confirm that DEFRA would command broad public support if it introduced a new effective policy mandating the collection of compostable packaging alongside food waste across England to ensure that materials are composted at end of life,” she said.