Packaging News first broke the story that B&Q had swapped the cardboard packaging it used to use to transport kitchen components for a reusable packaging system.
Speaking at a Parliamentary debate about waste reduction (18 May), Defra Minister for the Natural Environment Richard Benyon praised B&Q’s packaging reduction measures.
He said that B&Q’s scheme had prevented 435 tonnes of cardboard waste and saved the company about £80,000 per year. He also said: “By using only as much packaging as is necessary to protect goods, businesses can save money on raw materials and transport costs.”
The long-awaited Waste Review is to be published in June. Benyon said that the Government is looking “not only at the packaging that surrounds the products, but at the products themselves”.
He continued: “We need to encourage companies to design products differently to avoid waste. Products need to last longer – to be upgradeable, repairable and reusable. Working with WRAP, we are helping organisations to develop new business models for a greener economy.”
Good news
Benyon’s comments are bound to be seen as good news for the packaging industry which has long argued that the carbon impact of a product is more than the carbon impact of packaging.
Packaging Federation chief executive Dick Searle told Packaging News: “As I keep on saying, packaging only exists because the product exists. It is absolutely right that if you look at the environmental impact of packaging you look at the environmental impact of the product.
“One major supermarket head of packaging instructs suppliers to look at packaging simply as one of many ingredients of a product.
“Packaging is the solution not the problem.”
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B&Q cuts cardboard waste by over 400 tonnes per year through packaging innovation
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