Easter egg packs highlight need for recycling symbol

If anyone wanted reminding why a new on-pack indicator for recyclability was necessary, there was no need to look further than this year's batch of Easter eggs.

In the face of widespread criticism, suppliers have worked hard to create the impression of both recyclability and materials reduction.

Carton producer Boxes Prestige says it contributed around 10% to the 22% overall reduction in packaging claimed by Thorntons on its Easter range. Sales manager Jon Basford explains: "The weight reductions talked about by Cadbury and Nestlé, for instance, could refer to outer packaging as well."

Both these multinationals boasted of '25% less packaging' than the previous year. They, like Mars, majored on the use of monomaterial recycled and recyclable board. Elsewhere, there was less certainty.

Most surprising was Sainsbury's advice on the clear polyethylene terephthalate (PET) box for its own-label eggs: 'Most councils will collect this for recycling.' In fact, the only PET that most UK councils will currently collect is in the form of bottles. It undermines the retailer's claim that all of its own-label boxed Easter egg packaging was '100% recyclable'.

Asked to explain, a spokesman for Sainsbury states: "All of our Easter egg packaging is recyclable, compostable or reusable."

Basford at Boxes Prestige, which supplies 90% of Thornton's cartons, says combinations of transparent window film, rigid plastic inserts and foil wrapping are needed to protect product and meet food-contact requirements.

The recently-introduced on-pack recycling label (OPRL) was unavailable for most of this year's suppliers. But the diversity of consumer guidance highlights the need for this clearer, more standardised system. OPRL describes pack components as being 'widely recycled' or 'not currently recycled'. There is a third category: 'Check local recycling'.

The system, which aims to optimise recycling, is supported by the major UK retailers and a growing number of suppliers.

The British Retail Consortium runs OPRL as a separate company. A spokesman says: "A further objective is to encourage local government to broaden the range of materials that it accepts."

He adds: "The logo is the best possible system under the circumstances. But obviously, the simplest situation would be if there were a uniform national system."