The Mayor of London, London Councils and ReLondon are continuing to accelerate the transition to a low carbon circular economy in London by taking action to reduce wasteful packaging.
In publishing London’s packaging footprint report, London has taken further steps to understand the significant climate impact of our packaging system and identify key areas for action. Tackling London’s packaging footprint and driving more circular approaches at city level will require action across multiple sectors and we are calling for partners to support this effort.
What the research tells us
ReLondon’s commissioned report, delivered by Valpak and WRAP, traces the flows of packaging used by Londoners, London businesses and institutions and London’s visitors, and provides an assessment of that packaging’s carbon impact.
The study links packaging flows through the city with greenhouse gas emissions and shows London’s packaging consumption is responsible for the emission of 4.1 million tonnes of CO2e per year, equivalent to half of all transport emissions in the city. Plastic packaging alone is responsible for almost half of those emissions.
Three levers were identified that could support the transition towards a low carbon circular packaging system. These are:
- Increase the amount of recycled content in plastic packaging
- Reduce single-use plastic packaging placed on the market, including through packaging refill and reuse
- Increase collection and recycling rates for all packaging waste
If these levers are activated at a level in line with the Mayor’s objectives and European Union’s targets, the report shows that they have the potential to reduce London’s packaging carbon footprint by 23% – or almost 1 million tonnes of CO2e per year, the equivalent of removing over a third of car traffic in London.
Call for partners to scale existing initiatives
The Mayor of London, the London Councils’ One World Living Programme and ReLondon have already taken steps to drive actions across 3 key pillars:
Get involved
We recognise that collaboration is a cornerstone of systemic change, and so we are calling for partners to help scale existing initiatives and drive the packaging transformation needed.
If you are interested in exploring how you can get involved, please get in touch. In particular, we encourage retailers, industry bodies, funders, anchor institutions and national and local governments to reach out and discuss ways in which we could work together to further London’s leadership in pioneering circular packaging systems.
Endorsements
“This report provides valuable new insights into how packaging contributes to our city’s waste and climate footprint, and will help us develop new approaches and expand existing ones. It is crucial to reduce single-use packaging by eliminating packaging we don’t need and scaling up reuse models, as well as increasing the recycled content in packaging. These priorities, alongside a focus on improving packaging collection and recycling rates, will support London to become a low carbon, zero-waste city as we work to build a greener, fairer city for everyone.”
Mete Coban, Deputy Mayor of London for Environment and Energy, The Greater London Authority
“London Councils welcomes the findings of ‘London’s packaging footprint’ report. This is essential research for enabling all key stakeholders – including London boroughs – to undertake evidence-based, high-impact action. The very fact that London’s packaging results in a level of emissions equivalent to half of London’s transport emissions, highlights the severity and urgency of tackling London’s packaging”
Hannah Jameson, Climate Change Programme Director, London Councils
“London’s Packaging Footprint is a crucial piece of work to identify the city’s carbon and waste hotspots associated with packaging. The report provides data on material flows for London as a whole; however, each local authority plays a key role in managing the city’s waste. The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames leads on the plastics theme of London Councils’ One World Living programme, which aims to reduce consumption-based emissions and drive a more circular economy.
This research identifies interventions to reduce packaging waste, increase reuse and recycling, and reduce the carbon emissions associated with packaging. Plastic is a highly versatile and useful material, extensively used in different types packaging; but it has a very high level of embodied carbon, and not enough of it is captured for reuse or recycling. This material flow analysis provides much needed data, insight and potential levers which means we can take better informed approaches on how to reduce carbon emissions from single use plastics and where to target efforts for the greatest impact.”
Cllr Neden-Watts, London Borough of Richmond upon Thames (leading the One World Living theme’s plastics working group)
