“It’s all about the Environment…”
You probably wouldn’t be aware that Whitley’s is a member of the Foodservice Packaging Association - a trade organisation of manufacturers and distributors of packaging with application to the food industry. In January the FPA organised an environmental seminar with expert packaging speakers including two food and packaging related professors, an MP, several UK and EU civil servants, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Waitrose and even Extinction Rebellion!
You probably wouldn’t be aware that Whitley’s is a member of the Foodservice Packaging Association - a trade organisation of manufacturers and distributors of packaging with application to the food industry.
In January the FPA organised an environmental seminar with expert packaging speakers including two food and packaging related professors, an MP, several UK and EU civil servants, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Waitrose and even Extinction Rebellion!
It made for uncomfortable listening!
It was clear that in UK and Western Europe there is a hugely negative perception of the impact of single use packaging and the throwaway society on our environment, the climate and the world. Greenhouse gas production from landfill and overuse of world resources are under huge scrutiny.
UK legislation is being developed to change the behaviour of people with regard to all forms of single use packaging. Reusable solutions will be encouraged much more widely. Deposit Return Schemes will appear affecting cans, plastic bottles and paper cups. There are bans coming of certain types of material which are seen as non-recyclable or particularly damaging such as Expanded Polystyrene (EPS), plastic plates, cutlery and stirrers etc. Packaging taxes beyond anything we have seen before are planned. Significant additional costs will undoubtedly feature all the way down the chain to discourage use. Think cigarette taxes!
The benefits of food packaging e.g. extending shelf-life, preserving food safety and conveying information such as allergens seem to be losing out in the government’s planned responses to the climate emergency.
The details are not yet clear. The impacts on our trade are not yet clear. But the message to us was clear. Don’t pretend it’s not coming. It’s going to change the way we do business. Forewarned is forearmed!






