Lincolnshire CC drops legal action against Sainsbury's over packaging

Lincolnshire County Council has withdrawn its legal action against Sainsbury’s over its excessive packaging, saying it was “no longer in the public interest”.

The case, which was due to be heard at Lincoln Magistrates’ Court today, was dropped after the supermarket reduced the packaging on its Taste the Difference slow matured beef joint. Lincolnshire said evidence of “a considerable reduction in packaging and the replacement of all previous stock” had been received.

The case involved charges under the Packaging (Essential Requirements) Regulations 2003.

Peter Heafield, head of Lincolnshire Trading Standards, said the county council had first drawn its concerns about the issue to Sainsbury’s attention in early 2009. The matters before the court related to the packaging being used on the product in April 2009 and February 2010, he added.

Heafield said: “With the changes which have now been made and the intention of Sainsbury’s to make further reductions if possible this authority has decided that it is no longer in the public interest to prosecute.”

Claiming a “very positive outcome”, Cllr Peter Robinson, Deputy Leader of Lincolnshire County Council, added: “The packaging has now been reduced and a way forward to try to achieve even further reductions has been agreed.

“The need for court action has been avoided and the reduction in packaging which is being achieved on this and other products will result in less environmental damage, while at the same lowering the cost to the council taxpayer of processing household waste.”

A Sainsbury’s spokesman said the company was pleased Lincolnshire had withdrawn the case. However, he said Sainsbury’s did not believe the legal action was ever in the public interest.

“Our packaging is under constant review and the council was made aware of our plans for this product back in June, so we never understood why the prosecution was allowed to go as far as it did,” he said, adding that the packaging of the product in question has been reduced by 53%, and is set to be reduced by at least another 10% within the next few months.

“Our leadership in this area has led us to reduce our packaging by 8,000,000 kilos over the past year, putting us on track to hit our industry-leading target to reduce packaging by a third by 2015. Our customers know this is a real area of focus for us and today’s decision by the council provides recognition of that fact.”