Claims by the crisp producer Walkers that it has recycled half a million empty crisp packets in three months should be taken with “a pinch of salt” because they represent 0.01% of plastic waste from the number made and sold annually, analysis has found.

The campaign organisation 38 Degrees said Walkers’ production of 11 million crisp packets a day meant its new recycling scheme had only led to a tiny fraction being recycled since its launch.

Walkers began the UK’s first crisp packet recycling scheme in December last year after a campaign by 38 Degrees called on it and other manufacturers to ditch plastic packaging.

Under the scheme, crisp eaters can deposit empty packets at collection points or post them in a box or envelope free of charge to the recycling firm TerraCycle.

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The UK’s largest crisp brand said on Monday that more than 8,500 collection points had signed up and in the first three months it had collected more than half a million crisp packets – enough to produce 250 benches made from recycled plastic.

David Innes, a campaigner with 38 Degrees, said: “Walkers’ claims of success need to be taken with a pinch of salt. The news that people across the UK have embraced the recycling scheme is brilliant and shows how much people want to tackle plastic waste. But Walkers still have an enormous plastic problem that this scheme isn’t currently tackling. Walkers’ customers want to know when plastic-free packets will be available on our shelves.”

UK consumers eat 6bn packets of crisps a year. The inside of conventional packets look like foil but are a metallised plastic film. The government-funded body Recycle Now has said no crisp packets are recyclable and should be put in the rubbish not the recycling bin. But Walkers insisted crisp packets were “technically recyclable, but the issue until now has been that they weren’t being separated or collected for recycling”.

Beach cleaners in Cornwall have retrieved Walkers packets believed to date from the 1980s and 1990s. The company has made a commitment to make crisp packets recyclable, compostable or biodegradable by 2025.

Duncan Gordon, the corporate affairs director at Walkers, said: “The scheme is still relatively new and we’re encouraged by the response to it so far … It’s the fastest growing scheme of its type and we’re working hard to promote it. In the meantime, we continue in our ambition to develop packets that are 100% recyclable, compostable or biodegradable.”







