Principles, policies and practice: evaluating the environmental sustainability of Britain's packaging regulations

✍ Scribed by Ian Bailey

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 149 KB
• Volume: 8
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0968-0802
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1719(200002)8:1<51::aid-sd125>3.0.co;2-6

✦ Synopsis

This paper examines recent developments in the UK packaging regulations, legislation transposing the European Union Packaging Waste Directive (94/62/EC). It explores the way in which the UK regulations have adopted market-based environmental policies, including the use of economic instruments. The environmental benefits gained from the market-based approach are assessed against the policy principles adopted within the EU environmental programme. The study finds evidence that UK policy is moving towards greater adherence to these principles engineered by a combination of market factors and government intervention. Nonetheless, certain elements of the market show fewer signs of developing environmentally sustainable structures, with little evidence of sustained demand for recycled packaging and considerable uncertainty over levels of public awareness. The government must therefore play a leading role in honing policies if the regulations are to fulfil the EU's policy principles more fully in the future.