Supermarkets told to pack it in

A study by the Local Government Association puts Waitrose at the top of a league of shame when it comes to product packaging with the heaviest packaging per shopping basket. Lidl has the worst record for non recyclable materials used – with just 58% of their packaging recyclable. Tesco has a 65% recyclable score (and the lowest overall weight of packaging) with Sainsbury’s scoring 67% recyclable materials. The LGA said that excessive packaging was undermining householders efforts to recycle more and also leads to increased costs. The report did acknowledge that there had been a distinct improvement in product labelling for recycling although said that there was still widespread scope for improvement.