The British Retail Consortium claims that if MEPs vote to set recycling targets at a high rate today (September 3), retailers will be faced with huge additional costs.

The parliament looks set to bring in measures that will force retailers into spending large amounts of money on recycling projects. The BRC believes these costs will be prohibitive and also will not deliver an equivalent environmental benefit.

It is also requesting an extension to the deadline for implementing new measures, which curr3ently stands at 2006.

BRC director general Bill Moyes said: 'Packaging is necessary because it ensures the safety of the consumer, protects the product, is a practical way of selling certain goods and inspires consumer confidence by preventing tampering.

'If MEPs vastly increase targets, it will impose a huge additional cost to those working to meet the targets. Such cost increases can be justified if the resulting environmental benefits outweigh the costs but not otherwise.'

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