More firms join the Courtauld Commitment
The Courtauld Commitment is a government backed voluntary agreement for manufacturers and suppliers to reduce the amount of packaging they use. Thirteen of the largest retailers signed up to the commitment on its inception in 2005. Now more manufacturers have signed up to the commitment. They have agreed to stop increasing the amount of packaging they use by next year and to start reducing it by 2010. Forgive me for not getting too excited by this, but what exactly have they committed to? They have another year to increase the amount of packaging, so in this year they could increase the amount of packaging to a level beyond what they actually want. Then in the next couple of years they can reduce the packaging from this artificially high level back to the level they wanted anyway. So in the letter of the agreement, they have reduced the amount of packaging, but in reality they have not.
Am I being cynical? Surely if the government wanted to do more than a publicity exercise, they would have set mandatory levels of packaging for industry. Only in this way will the Courtauld Commitment go from a PR stunt for the government and manufacturers to something that can help save the planet. I think it is time to stop talking about saving the planet and to actually start saving the planet.
