Plea over packaging

At a time when unwanted landfill is becoming a critical issue, the county council's Trading Standards Service has stepped in.

It is asking everyone in the county to help the campaign by reporting details of any items they believe have too much packaging, compared with the quantity of contents inside.

The campaign is also being run in tandem with a bid to reduce gas and electricity consumption.

Trading standards officers will do their bit by contacting more than 4,500 businesses in West Sussex during the next few weeks in a bid to radically reduce the waste caused by packaging.

West Sussex county councillor and cabinet member Peter Evans, said: "Reducing packaging means we use fewer raw materials, save transport costs and greenhouse gas emissions. It also reduces the amount of waste we all have to deal with, especially local authorities who have to arrange for recycling or landfill.

"We're asking everyone in West Sussex for help with this campaign. If the packaging seems over the top to you, then report it!"

The call has come at a time when campaigners are fighting plans for an unwanted landfill site at Laybrook, between Thakeham and Ashington. Campaigners and MPs have been calling for more recycling and preventative measures to be taken to reduce the need for landfill.

Women's Institute members in the county have been backing a campaign against supermarkets using excessive packaging for everyday products for more than two years.

The have undertaken initiatives during that time to save such packaging for a week and to return it to respective stores with the message 'Here, you deal with it.'

They want everyone to help by keeping up pressure on the stores to eliminate superfluous wrapping and trays.

A WI spokeswoman said: "The silliest example we have found is a shrink-wrapped swede,but a lot of food is still in unnecessary packaging, with fruit and vegetables sold in trays."

Thanks to the campaign some changes have been made by some of the big supermarkets, with Asda selling a large percentage of fresh produce loose and Tesco using compostable containers for food.

But there is still a long way to go and West Sussex residents are being urged to take back unnecessary packaging to sources, or to report it.

Meanwhile, Mr Evans has said that buildings were responsible for almost 50 per cent of the UK's energy consumption and carbon emissions.

"Reducing gas and electricity consumption is good for people and businesses, and most importantly it is good for the planet. We need to be aware of the energy consumption of our buildings before we can hope to reduce it," he said.