Irish Packaging Levy Proposal Needs Rethink, says BPF

A tentative proposal made by the Irish government to raise a levy on packaging as part of a waste reduction programme has been described as 'inappropriate' by the BPF.

The BPF is conscious that Ireland is one of the UK’s major trading partners and has emphasised that the introduction of a levy would impact the full packaging supply chain including packaging manufacturers and distributors.

Director of Public & Industrial Affairs, Philip Law said, “This would impose yet further economic burdens on commercial operators in extremely straitened times. Raw material and energy costs are escalating and relatively unconcentrated sectors will certainly experience the greatest difficulty in passing on yet a further cost.”

He said the Irish government should take into account the commercial pressures such as rising raw material costs which incentivise the minimisation of material in a pack. Design and technological innovation, for example made possible the reduction of weight, a 1 litre plastic detergent bottle has gone from 120gms in 1970 to now just 67 gms.
 
The BPF also stressed that the punitive connotations of a ‘levy’ could potentially demonize packaging. Yet packaging and in particular plastics packaging has revolutionized food storage, greatly reduced food and product wastage in the developed world, increased levels of food hygiene and saved energy in transportation.

“It is impossible to disassociate a package from the goods it packs. Packaging does not have a separate life. It is called into being only when something needs to be protected, displayed, handled and transported. The reduction of the amount of packaging waste arising implies a reduction in consumption of food and consumer goods. This would impair economic regeneration in Ireland and in its trading partners,” added Law.

The BPF warned that companies unable to pass on the levy and forced to absorb it could cut key corporate budgets such as Research & Development and Training. According to the BPF this would stifle innovation – a strength the plastics packaging industry prides itself on.

The BPF encourages the Irish government in its efforts to increase recycling, noting that Ireland now stands 5th in the EU packaging recycling league table having increased  recycling  rates from15% in 1998 to 61% in 2007. But it warned that by itself a packaging levy would not necessarily drive higher levels of recycling.

Law said there are a complex web of interactions which need to be taken into account such as private investment in recycling capacity, an engaged public, a stable supply of used materials of appropriate quality at prices viable for both the waste holder, the recycler, the plastics processors and the ultimate end user and the comparative prices of virgin materials.