ROYAL MAIL HAS asked activist to stop sending their crisp packets without envelopes to the Walkers headquarters.
The postal service’s plea is in response to a campaign to get Walkers to make its packaging fully recyclable.
The campaign was started by the activism group 38 Degrees, who have urged people to send their empty crisp packets back to the manufacturer to protest its use of non-recyclable plastic.
“Why are people posting empty crisp packets back to Walkers? Because every day Walkers is making 11 million bags of crisps that will spend almost one hundred years in a landfill, or worse end up in our oceans,” 38 Degrees posted on Twitter.
A Royal Mail spokesperson has asked anyone taking part in this campaign to use an envelope before posting as it is adding to delays in processing mail.
“If an item is addressed properly and carries the correct postage then Royal Mail is obliged by law to handle and deliver the item to the stated address.
Crisp packets can’t go through the machines, they are not normal mail items, therefore, my hardworking colleagues need to manually sort them, which adds to the time.
“We strongly encourage customers not to post anything into the postal system which is not properly packaged,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
Following the plea from Royal Mail, 38 Degrees has told its followers to “keep posting but use an envelope”.
Walkers says that it is committed to making its packaging 100% recyclable, compostable or biodegradable by 2025.
Over 300,000 people have signed 38 Degrees’ petition calling on Walkers to ditch plastic packaging.
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