Some retailers are increasingly picking on glass as an easy target in their quest to meet commitments to packaging reduction. In this article, David Workman, Director-General of British Glass, argues that a properly-informed debate would identify better targets. He states his concerns about emotionally-charged, misleading and inaccurate media reports justifying the introduction by some retailers of alternative packaging formats to glass. Some of whom seem to have interpreted their Courtauld Commitment obligation as a simple weight reduction exercise, in which case the obvious target for weight reduction is glass. Until now, glass has been one of the materials that has escaped consumer and environmental group criticism about excessive packaging, and surely it is excessive packaging that should be the real target for packaging reduction action!
