There’s been a great deal of noise in the the Food-O-Sphere lately about the damage discarded plastic packaging is doing to the environment. Major Fast Food chains are reducing or eliminating their use of plastic, but consumers say, resoundingly, that a tax on plastic packaging is needed…
Single-use plastic items are the main cause of ocean pollution. Americans alone
throw away 500,000,000 plastic drinking straws every day…
We’ve had locally-driven programs here in Canada for some time, now, to reduce the use of plastic grocery bags. governments have imposed laws on the industry that require it to charge a nickel for each plastic bag requested by a customer. The use of reusable ‘green’ canvas shopping bags is almost universally encouraged. But many consumers say that’s not enough.
What they did…
A recent survey conducted in the UK and the U.S., commissioned by consulting firm Ingredient Communications, revealed some remarkable consumer opinions about supermarket plastic. The online poll asked participants not only about plastic grocery bags, but plastic food packaging in general.
The survey came in the wake of the airing of a BBC documentary, Blue Planet 2 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04tjbtx), which examined the impact that plastic packaging and single-use plastic (such as drinking straws and disposable eating utensils) is wreaking on marine life.
What they found…
More than half of UK poll respondents said they were in favour of a tax on all plastic food packaging. A third of U.S. respondents, who had not seen the documentary, were in favour of such a tax.
In the UK, 41 per cent of those polled said they would be more likely to shop at a supermarket which does not use plastic packaging for its fruits and Vegetables. U.S. respondents came in just behind them, at 38 percent on that question. Conversely, three percent of UK poll respondents said a alack of plastic packaging would make them less likely to shop at given supermarket. In the U.S., 13 percent said they’d be turned off by a lack of plastic packing.
What it means…
Neil Cary, Managing Director of Surveygoo, which carried out the survey, told Food In Canada (FIC) that viewers of the documentary, “were left in no doubt about the harmful and often heart-breaking impact of plastic waste, and many were inspired to make a change. In the U.S., while there is still significant support for a plastic tax, the figures are much lower. This probably reflects greater public opposition to taxation generally, as well as greater skepticism about government measures to protect the environment.”
However…
There is intense opposition to any tax or outright ban on plastic packaging from the Foodservice and Food Packaging industries.
“Our research makes clear that there is high demand for food manufacturers to use more plastic-free packaging, and for supermarkets to introduce plastic-free features into their stores,” says Richard Clarke, Managing Director of Ingredient Communications told FIC. “However, the benefits of plastic packaging for food and beverage products are often overlooked. It helps protect goods from damage, extends shelf life and creates a brand identity, which undoubtedly influences consumers’ purchasing decisions.”
The unspoken message there is, packagers and retailers will only make a serious effort to reduce their reliance on plastic if and when it makes sense economically for them, or consumer opposition to plastic packaging becomes so overwhelming that they’ll have to reduce plastic or risk losing sales.
~ Maggie J.