Paul Graham, GB Managing Director at Britvic, has been appointed as the new President of the British Soft Drinks Association (BSDA) trade body following election at its AGM.

Paul takes over from Nichols CEO Dr Marnie Millard OBE, who led a number of initiatives during her time as President, including the BSDA’s role as a founder-member of Circularity Scotland Ltd, a scheme administrator for Scotland’s deposit return scheme (DRS).

Paul joined Britvic in September 2012 having worked in a range of commercial roles across all trade channels for United Biscuits and Mars Confectionery. He was promoted to his current position in July 2013 and was appointed Vice President of the BSDA in 2020.

He said: “I am delighted to be elected as the new BSDA President. I aim to continue the outstanding work of Marnie and past presidents on making further significant progress on a wide range of soft drinks-related issues, not least helping our partners in the hospitality sector get back on their feet after an extremely challenging year.

“As a founder-member of Circularity Scotland, the BSDA continues to work closely with the Scottish Government to develop its DRS, which is currently due to be introduced in 2022, although we are eager to see the Scottish Government review this date to help ensure delivery of a well-designed DRS system in Scotland that works for consumers and businesses.”

William Watkins, Founder and Owner at Radnor Hills, has been elected to replace Paul as Vice President of the BSDA. William founded Radnor Hills in 1991 on his family farm based on the Welsh borders. The business now produces more than 350 million products per year.

The BSDA represents UK producers of soft drinks, including carbonated drinks, still and dilutable drinks, fruit juices and bottled waters. Membership includes the majority of Britain’s soft drinks manufacturers as well as franchisors, importers and suppliers to the UK soft drinks industry.

The government’s Resources and Waste Strategy has been unveiled, setting out how ministers aim to change the way consumers deal with waste from the home to the workplace.

It includes the introduction of a deposit return scheme in 2023, subject to consultation early next year.

Gavin Partington, Director General at British Soft Drinks Association, said:

“The soft drinks industry supports the introduction of a GB-wide full deposit return scheme for all plastic and can beverage containers. We believe this is the best way to increase recycling levels and tackle litter.

“Reform of the current producer responsibility system is also necessary to create greater transparency and increased investment in UK recycling infrastructure.”

Whilst we recognise health issues associated with obesity are a serious matter, it’s important to note that obesity is a complex issue with a number of factors and there is no evidence to suggest a tax will reduce obesity.

As an industry we recognise we have a role to play in tackling obesity. Soft drink companies have been engaged in a range of calorie reduction initiatives for many years – resulting in a 19 % reduction in sugar intake (from soft drinks) since 2013. [Kantar]

Current data illustrates that a tax of this sort on a single category will not have a meaningful impact on obesity levels.

Sugar intake from soft drinks has been declining year-on-year since 2013 yet figures from the NHS state that obesity prevalence increased from 15 % in 1993 to 27 % in 2015.

Also, latest figures from NHS Digital show that hospital admissions where obesity is a factor has more than doubled in England during the last four years.

Recent reports from Food Standards Scotland outline that levels of obesity are not reducing and that the decline in sugar from soft drinks has been offset by increases in sugar from other foods. This is underpinned by data from Kantar, which states whilst sugar intake from soft drinks has decreased by 18.7 %, it has increased in frozen confectionery (+ 8.7 %), take home confectionary (+ 2.3 %), and biscuits (+ 1.4 %) since 2013.

We all have a role to play in helping to tackle obesity and we hope our actions on sugar reduction, portion size and promotion of low and no calorie products set an example for the wider food sector.

Source: British Soft Drinks Association

In Spring Statement the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, announced a call for evidence on using the tax system or charges to address single-use plastic waste in the UK.

The review will look broadly across the whole supply chain, from production and retail to consumption and disposal.

In his speech, Philip Hammond insisted that any measures will seek to change behaviour and encourage innovation, rather than raise revenue. Any such revenue raised will be invested into developing “new greener products and processes” and to kick-start this Government is committing £20 million now from existing budgets to “businesses and universities to help stimulate new thinking and rapid solutions in this area.”

Responding to the announcement, BSDA’s Director General Gavin Partington (British Soft Drinks Association) said:

“As an industry we recognise that more can be done to reduce litter and increase recycling rates and so we welcome the launch of the innovation fund to develop new greener products and processes.

“The ambition is for all our packaging in the UK to be 100 % recyclable, that consumers recycle and that drinks containers do not end up as litter in our towns, countryside, rivers and oceans.

“We have long believed that reform of the current compliance system would create greater transparency, and lead to increased investment in UK recycling infrastructure, more so than a tax on a single material.

“We believe that by working together with governments, NGO’s and other stakeholders real progress can be achieved to make the UK the world leader in creating a truly circular economy.”