Should Sustainable Alternatives to Plastic Should Be Tax-Exempt?

Industry figures have called for sustainable alternatives to plastic to be exempt from the UK’s new plastic packaging tax, in a letter to the UK treasury.

The Bio-Based and Biodegradable Industries Association (BBIA) and TIPA’s letter to the Treasury reads, “Traditional recycling alone is failing to deal with the millions of tonnes of plastic detritus on our planet and there is no foreseeable change to this without systematic change in the materials we employ, including compostables.”

The call for action follows the publication of Breaking the Plastic Wave, a new report by SYSTEMIQ and the Pew Charitable Trusts, which endorses sustainable plastic packaging alternatives as a solution to the Government’s plan to cut 80% of current plastic use in packaging.

The plastic packaging tax currently applies to packaging produced in or imported into the UK that does not contain a minimum of 30% recycled plastic. HMRC has claimed that the tax will “impact a wide range of industries, including retail, construction and manufacturing.”

 It will take effect from April 2020.