New BRC recycling label gets backing from big-name stores

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has designed the label as an antidote to the mass of different recycling labels currently found in stores. It is divided into three categories: ‘widely recycled’, ‘check local recycling’ and ‘not currently recycled’, to better inform consumers on how to dispose of the packaging.

The label will be operated by the BRC under a company called On-Pack Recycling Label (OPRL), while Wrap will monitor its effectiveness through the changes in local authorities.

Asda, the Co-operative Group, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose have already signed up to use the new label.

Asda was the first retailer to adopt the label and introduced it onto a Christmas gravy range in December 2007. The retailer has since rolled the line out to 6,500 products.

Shane Monkman, Asda’s packaging buyer, said the label could go some way to help clean up waste streams.

He said: “It’s as important to tell people what you can’t recycle as what you can.”

Manufacturers that have so far committed to the label include Associated British Foods, Britvic, Kellogg’s, Premier Foods, Rachel’s Organics, Robert Wiseman Dairies and Weetabix.

Environment minister Jane Kennedy applauded the scheme.

She said: “By standardising the information provided to shoppers, these new recycling labels make it easier for us to know what we can recycle and help us to recycle more.”

BRC director general Stephen Robertson said customer confusion was the “biggest barrier to improving recycling rates”.

“Replacing a potentially confusing array of symbols and messages with a single, standardised logo will help customers recycle more.”

Robert Wiseman Dairies group operations director Martyn Mulcahy agreed. He said: “Delivering clear messages to consumers will help improve awareness and encourage reuse and recycling of packaging.”

The BRC has said it hopes to sign 60 companies up to the scheme by the end of its first year.

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