The FPA has long called for a level playing field when it comes to paying for littered items. With cigarettes by far the most littered item (68% of litter by count), having producers pay for the public littering of packaging without the equivalent for the most littered items is clearly unfair.
We are therefore pleased to read a Defra tender seeking research 'to explore the role of EPR as a policy to meet publicly funded cleaning costs and to reduce the incidence of cigarette littering and prevalence of littered cigarette filters in the UK’. The tender advertisement goes on to state: ‘The government position is that a regulatory approach may be required to ensure the industry takes sufficient financial responsibility for the litter created by its products.’
Our plea now is for an equivalent tender for chewing gum, which is again more littered than packaging. If business is to pay for the littering of its products, then government must ensure procedures are in place to enable local authorities to enforce fixed penalty notices for littering. The aim should be for EPR payments for litter to reduce to zero.
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