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However, the BRC urged the government to provide greater clarity on how consumers and the environment will benefit considering prices will increase.<\/p>\n
It is also calling on the government to put in place legal ring-fencing to ensure the money raised from EPR can only be used by local councils to collect and operate local recycling, as well as fund improvements to local recycling systems.<\/p>\n
Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the BRC, said: \u201cRetailers support the polluter pays principle and are making significant changes to reduce and improve their packaging.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the packaging tax is also a multi-billion pound levy being paid by consumers during a cost-of-living crisis. They will ask: what are we getting for higher prices?<\/p>\n
\u201cUnless funds are spent transparently and effectively, EPR threatens to just be another burden on an already overtaxed industry with no tangible benefits for customers or the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"In](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/872f2bf41f2b82a1130f13b07758a08fY29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzU4MDkzOTgx-2.81063263.jpg\")
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In addition to the financial impact, some 85 per cent of retailers said the administrative and compliance burden they faced had increased significantly as a result of the new tax (PA Wire)<\/p>\n
Encirc, one of the UK\u2019s largest glass bottle manufacturers, which is also pioneering low-carbon production with investment in hydrogen power and biofuels, described the tax as an \u201cown goal\u201d that would hit glass bottles of wine and spirits the hardest due to its basis in weight.<\/p>\n
Under the policy, a standard bottle of wine will cost an additional 9p, while the cost of a 330ml beer bottle will rise by about 4p and spirit bottles will cost an extra 11p under the levy.<\/p>\n
Encirc, too, warned that these price increases could be passed onto consumers.<\/p>\n
Sean Murphy, managing director at Encirc, said: \u201cThe new glass bottle tax is an economic and environmental own goal, hitting UK firms producing packaging that is far better for the environment than plastic.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis tax will hit everyone \u2013 in the supermarkets, pubs, and glass factories that create thousands of jobs. It is a bitter blow for businesses such as ours which are investing heavily in green technology.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government must hit the pause button on this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Local government Association (LGA) environment spokeswoman Arooj Shah said: \u201cCouncils have worked hard to provide recycling services that residents are satisfied with, and it is long overdue that producers of packaging pay for the disposal of the waste the create. Industry has a choice about whether to reduce packaging, absorb the cost or pass it on to consumers.<\/p>\n
\u201cCouncils support the polluter-pays principle. EPR should be the spur for industry to cut unnecessary packaging, design packaging for reuse and recycling, and phase out hard-to-recycle materials so costs for consumers come down.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe reject the call to ring-fencing that says funds can only go on collections. That is, in practice, a call for industry control of council waste services. Every place is different, and democratically elected councils must be free to invest where it helps residents most.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[138,219,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-55309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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