Marks & Spencer and Lidl have had their knuckles rapped for failing to adequately tackle the issue of excess and recyclable packaging.

A new report from the Local Government Association (LGA) has found that up to 40 per cent of packaging used by supermarkets cannot be recycled - and has warned that the UK will fail to hit recycling targets unless retailers respond by cutting back on excess packaging.

A total of 29 common grocery items were assessed from Asda, Lidl, M&S, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, a local retailer and a market.

With 60 per cent, M&S had the lowest percentage of recyclable packaging. Some 70 per cent Asda’s packaging was recyclable.

The local market and local shop scored the highest in terms of recyclable packaging, with 79 per cent of the total amount used.

Lidl was bottom of the poll when it came to excess packaging, with a basket of grocery items using 799.5g. M&S came next with 782g, and Morrisons totalled 779g. Tesco used the least packaging by weight, at 684.5g a basket.

On average, five per cent of the shopping baskets’ content consisted of packaging. The need for shrink-wrapping on lines such as peppers and broccoli came under particular scrutiny.

The LGA warned that ordinary people were paying the price for disposing of waste from large businesses. “Councils and taxpayers are facing fines of up to £3 billion if we do not dramatically reduce the amount of waste thrown into landfill,” said chairman of the LGA environment board, Paul Bettison.

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