Amazon threatened with 'cardboard tax' as councils spend millions to collect and recycle discarded boxes

Amazon has been threatened with a so-called cardboard box tax to offset the cost of collecting and recycling discarded packaging.

Councils are said to be spending tens of millions of pounds every year to dispose of cardboard from online deliveries.

Amazon has a huge share of the online retail market - seeing its sales jump by nearly a third in 2017 - and it has faced criticism for using oversized boxes and excessive amounts of wrapping paper or bubble wrap.

Government ministers are drawing up a new strategy to impose levies on giants such as Amazon based on the amount of packaging they send out.

Under existing rules, businesses help to fund cardboard waste collection and recycling through the Packaging Recycling Obligation system.

But ministers are creating a new Resources and Waste Strategy that would force some companies to pay more, the Daily Mail reported.

It has not yet been revealed what levies would be charged before the policy is published.

Labour MP Mary Creagh, chairman of the Commons Environmental Audit Committee, said: "Online retailers should pay to recycle their packaging, but the UK’s recycling system lets them off the hook, leaving cash-strapped councils and taxpayers to pick up the tab."

Lee Marshall, of the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee, added: "Years of austerity mean council budgets have been heavily squeezed, so it’s time for the UK to reform packing regulations so that producers pass funding through to local authorities to support and expand recycling collections."

It has been suggested that Amazon's couriers should collect unwanted boxes from customers while they make their rounds.

The push comes as retailers face increasing pressure to cut down on the amount of plastic they use to prevent it from ending up in the sea.

Amazon has said that it complies with UK law and it has made efforts to reduce the amount of packaging it uses.

A spokesman said: “Amazon wants to optimise the overall customer packaging experience and complies with all legal requirements.

"We have introduced a number of sustainable packaging initiatives, like Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging, which promotes easy-to-open, 100 per cent recyclable packaging and lets us ship products in their own packages without additional boxes.

"Over the past 10 years, we have eliminated more than 244,000 tons of packaging materials, avoiding the use of 500 million shipping boxes.

"Third-party businesses selling on Amazon are contractually obligated to comply with all relevant laws and regulations.

"If we are informed by a regulatory authority that a business selling on Amazon is not compliant, we work quickly to take action on behalf of our customers.”