Crisps, chocolate and cheese among the worst offenders for recycling waste

According to a new investigation carried out by 'Which?', crisps, chocolate and cheese are among the worst foods for producing non-recyclable waste. Analysing 89 of the best-selling UK branded groceries, Which? discovered that only a third (34%) had packaging that was fully-recyclable in standard household collections.

The worst offenders included well-loved names such as Pringles, KitKats, and Babybels. Their parent companies are now being called upon to do more to make their packaging more readily recyclable.

Which? also looked at 10 individual food categories, and broke down the packaging to discover how easily it could be recycled. The results of the analysis showed that crisps were the worst of the group, with only 3% of packaging being able to be recycled from household collections.

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For chocolate, almost 1/3 was non-recyclable, with the worst offenders being KitKats and Bitsa Wispa, among other offerings. Various cheeses are also letting down groceries in the recycling game, with Babybel being a surprisingly low-scoring result as the packaging is hard to recycle.

Head of home products and services at Which?, Natalie Hitchins said: "Consumers are crying out for brands that take sustainability seriously and products that are easy to recycle, but for any real difference to be made to the environment, manufacturers need to maximise their use of recyclable and recycled materials and ensure products are correctly labelled. To reduce the waste to landfill, the government must make labelling mandatory, simple and clear, enabling shoppers to know exactly how to dispose of the packaging on the products they consume."

With many households becoming increasingly aware of their carbon footprint, it is time that brands follow suit and make it easier to reduce household waste – the ball is now in their court, so we will have to wait and see what happens next.