Packaging waste: facts and figures

This map (click here for a larger version) showing the amount of packaging waste per person in Europe came as a bit of a surprise. OK, so Sweden and Finland come up tops – no surprises there. I expected Germany to do a little better. But the true surprise were the sore thumbs that are France and Ireland, and how they compare to the UK.

My personal bias towards France set aside (Oiu, je suis Francais), I thought France and Ireland had somewhat more environmentally-friendly approaches to packaging. Ireland introduced a plastic bag tax in 2002 which reduced their use by 90%, which I assumed was the sign of a fairly sustainable approach to plastics. And the French consider it criminal to wrap four tomatoes in plastic or shrink-wrap a coconut – this is the land of open-air markets we’re talking about.

Meanwhile, across the Channel, vegetable aisles in UK supermarkets look like a massive PVC-spewing spider has cast a giant web. One-third of its packaging waste is plastic, 16% plastic film.

My intuition about Germany wasn’t too far off. The graph below (which you can view larger and with explanations) shows that it recycles nearly all the packaging it produces – much more than any other European country.

New Scientist

Share of packaging waste in total household waste (OECD)