The price that Scottish households pay for single-use packaging amounts to a staggering £600m a year, according to new research.
Thousands of everyday items are sold in packaging that is used once and then thrown away or recycled. Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS), a non-government agency, said the harmful packaging generates 650,000 tons of carbon emissions every year, equivalent to 4m car journeys between Aberdeen and London.
It estimates that Scottish consumers buy more than 300,000 tons of single-use packaging for their groceries every year, the cost of which is “built in” to the price of everyday products such as toiletries. Perversely, they pay again — through council tax — to cover the £40m annual cost of processing and disposing of packaging made from plastic, cardboard