The move, set to add 15p to prices, could be introduced by Environment Secretary Michael Gove as early as this week.

He wants to recoup the cost of dealing with packs where cardboard is glued to a plastic window, making them impossible to recycle.

Simon Ellin, of trade body the Recycling Association, said: “Manufacturers and retailers use too much badly designed packaging.”

He said the move would put from 10p to 15p on the average £2.14 price of a sandwich.

Some four billion are sold a year, and the UK industry employs 300,000 people.

Mr Gove’s waste strategy, to tackle the 222 million tons a year we produce a year, will also target the huge amount of ­packaging generated by online retailers and delivery services such as Amazon and Deliveroo.

Other moves include £400 spot fines on householders found fly-tipping and a doubling of the plastic bag tax to 10p.