Conference calls for renewed recycling effort

Industry groups were today urged to increase efforts to minimise product packaging at a major recycling conference.

The call was made at the annual Repak Members’ Conference entitled “Prevention and Minimisation”, with C&C and Diageo shows as examples for the rest of the industry.

Delegates heard that since light-weighting its plastic drinks bottles in 2003/4 by 8%, C&C has prevented the equivalent of fuve million plastic bottles, or 231 tonnes of plastic, coming onto the Irish marketplace.

Diageo Baileys prevented 380 tonnes or equivalent of 1,235,000 glass bottles by lightweighting its Baileys bottles by between 9% and 30%.

Speakers at the Repak Conference included Dick Roche, Minister for the Environment and Andrew Hetherington, CEO, Repak.