‘It’s 3p on a pack of sausages’: UK food firms say packaging tax adds to inflation

Food price inflation was 5.1% in August. In 2018, when the extended producer responsibility tax was introduced, it was 0.7%. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

A packaging tax designed to end our throwaway society is under fire for inadvertently adding to food price inflation as it pushes up the cost of everything from sausages to soft drinks.

“It’s about 3p on a pack of sausages,” says Andrew Keeble, the co-founder of Heck, of the new extended producer responsibility (EPR) tax.