Retailers, coffee shops and food and drinks manufacturers have been invited by the Government to join its new industry taskforce which will focus on finding ways of reducing the worst kinds of litter in England including plastic bottles and drinks containers, cigarette ends and fast food packaging.
Although the expert group is yet to be finalised, Coca-Cola is the first to announce its participation.
A spokesman for Coca-Cola European Partners said: “We agree that much more needs to be done to tackle anti-social littering behaviours and we welcome the new approach outlined by Defra in this far-reaching strategy.
“All of us – consumers, local authorities, Government and business – have a role to play in improving our environment. Therefore, we are pleased to have been invited to join Defra’s new expert group to provide advice to the Government on issues such as how best to increase the recovery of plastic drinks containers and reduce littering in the process.
“We have long been committed to taking the necessary action to improve the sustainability of our packaging and look forward to working with other like-minded organisations to explore new ideas and approaches that will support the overall ambitions of this strategy.”
The Government published its new Litter Strategy for England on April 11. In the report by Defra it was announced that litter louts could be hit with £150 fines as the Government aims to reduce the near £800, burden to the taxpayer of clean-up costs.
