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Press Release

British Retail Consortium: New 'tidyman' logo sends wrong message to customers

16 December 2010

Keep Britain Tidy's new bin-your-litter 'Tidyman' logo has been slammed by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) as outdated and missing the point.

The logo is being launched today (Thursday) at the National Litter Convention in London.

The BRC says telling customers waste goes in the bin is a message that belongs to another age. Keep Britain Tidy should be supporting retailers' efforts to encourage customers to recycle more of the material that can be recycled but currently is not.

The BRC launched its own universal On-Pack Recycling Label last year. It is now used by more than 100 retailers and manufacturers (on over 60,000 product lines) and is rapidly becoming the industry standard.

It provides standardised recyclability information and is intended to replace the, potentially confusing, range of symbols previously used. The on-pack label is designed to increase recycling rates by telling customers how likely it is that a particular piece of packaging can be recycled where they live.

British Retail Consortium Head of Environment Bob Gordon said: "Keep Britain Tidy is sending out the wrong message. We should actually be getting people recycling more of the material that could already be recycled. Litter is not the environmental issue of our time. Recycling helps prevent climate change and preserve valuable natural resources.

"We've offered to work with Keep Britain Tidy to promote recycling rather than confusing customers with another logo.

"Why create another logo when the BRC is already running one that is fast becoming the industry standard?Our own scheme costs businesses a modest £700 a year to encourage maximum participation.

"Companies who are reviewing their labelling as a result of Keep Britain Tidy's change should be looking to promote recycling not disposal. Adopting the BRC's On-Pack Recycling Label is the way to do that."



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