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My closing statement read: "There is only one real effective and incentive method to encourage environmentally sound collecting of beverage one-way containers and it is deposit in combination with High-Tech R&D resulted Reverse Vending Machines!"

WRAP: Moving forward from zero growth?

One of the things that causes people huge frustration is the amount of packaging that we all see every day - especially when we can't recycle all of it.

The retailers and brand owners know about this frustration and WRAP has been working with them over the last couple of years, through the Courtauld Commitment, to try to cut the growth in packaging and then to actually reduce the amount of packaging used by the sector each year.

Historically, the amount of packaging used for grocery products has grown every year - but I'm delighted to say that we have now managed to stop the growth. In 2007 the same amount of packaging was put onto the market by the major retailers and brands as they used in 2006. This is despite increased sales. As far as we are aware, this is the first time this has been achieved anywhere in Europe.

This is a fantastic achievement but what I really want to see is actual reductions - that is going to be even more challenging. Our next target under the commitment is to see real reductions by 2010.

If you're thinking that you haven't seen much evidence of this work to reduce packaging, it's possible that you're not aware of it. There are lots of examples of products now being packaged in lighter bottles or cans and things being wrapped in thinner films.  Much of this is very difficult to spot. However, there are other changes which we can see - for example:

• the move to concentrates for washing liquids; or even
• some new cleaning sprays which include a refill sachet.

As we move to some of the more visible changes, we as householders are also going to need to change the way we do things. Are we going to remember to use the refills or will we forget and just go and buy a new container? If we want to see real reductions in packaging then we are all going to need to engage and adapt. I hope we will - the gains are certainly going to be worth it.

The other area covered by the Courtauld Commitment is food waste - we need the retailers to help us all waste less of the food that we buy. We waste a staggering 6.7m tonnes of food waste every year. The retailers can help by giving us more advice on storage, working on portions sizes and giving us recipe ideas. I'll write more about our work on food waste in a future blog.

I want to ensure that WRAP continues to work closely with the retailers over the coming years to build on the progress already made so we can make an even greater difference - achieving real reductions in the quantity of packaging we use as a society and the amount of food we waste.

And I, for one, am looking forward to seeing far less packaging in my bin.

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