[Help] War on Plastics

[mikeyjh]

We bought Easter eggs for the grandkids from Sainsbury's (although the packaging wasn’t unique to them). Out of the five different eggs, only one didn’t have any plastic around it; the other four had absolutely loads of stiff clear plastic that couldn’t be compressed, broken or bent. Brighton and Hove council only recycle plastic bottles, so the packaging had to go in the normal refuse.
I don’t normally get to contacting companies about such issues but decided to email Sainsbury’s because they sell hundreds of thousands of these eggs and could therefore insist their suppliers only wrap their produce in cardboard. They responded with the usual - I’ll pass your comments on to their purchasing dept etc. Fingers crossed they do something about it but I’m not holding my breath.

Like many other posts, this highlights what people should do - Don't buy stuff in plastic packaging, manufacturers will soon change if we all did that.

 

[blue-shifted]

Totally true Mikey, but there are loads of things you have to buy where you have little choice about the amount of plastic included. Regulation, heavy taxation of plastic and unprecedented industry cooperation will also be needed

Like many other posts, this highlights what people should do - Don't buy stuff in plastic packaging, manufacturers will soon change if we all did that.

 

[Brian Parsons]

I'm 73 and not by choice I need to take pills to stay healthy, low BP, low cholesterol etc. I also have a condition with my eyes that need medication. With the exception of the eye pills that are in a bottle every other pill comes in a blister pack that us plastic and aluminium. Once joined never to be recycled. So where do the pill companies go on this one?

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[Spiros]

So two easy laws:

1) Large supermarkets cannot charge more per weight for lose fruit and veg. No need for consultation, just do it.

2) Ban plastic bags (still available) for loose items.

Why not ban single use plastic bags entirely? Primark has been putting stuff in paper bags for years and paper seemed to work well enough in the past.

Lose fruit and veg isn't always more expensive in supermarkets. A couple of weeks ago shopping in Tesco I needed one leek. The loose leeks had all gone and they only had plastic-wrapped packs of three. I checked that no staff were around (being Durrington Tesco there aren't any when you want them anyway) and then liberated one leek from it's plastic prison, weighed it, put on the sticky label and hey presto. The price per lb was lower too.

It's the same with quite a few veg but people just assume that the pre-packed stuff is cheaper

 

[GT49er]

We need to ban plastic! Let's start with bottle tops at the Amex!

.....and then the seats?

 

[GT49er]

We,ve just started using a milkman fresh milk in glass bottles so less plastic

Trouble is, apart from costing twice as much, the milk I used to get delivered on the doorstep went off far quicker than the milk from the supermarket. Long life milk, and non-dairy milk alternatives are sold in cardboard containers - why can't all supermarket milk?




My other big complaint is pills - whether aspirins, paracetamol, etc, or prescription pills - all come in plastic sheets, each pill in its own little plastic bubble. Get them back into re-usable glass bottles, for heaven's sake!

 

[beorhthelm]

Trouble is, apart from costing twice as much, the milk I used to get delivered on the doorstep went off far quicker than the milk from the supermarket. Long life milk, and non-dairy milk alternatives are sold in cardboard containers - why can't all supermarket milk?

the shelf life of milk is more to do with how its processed than packaged. those cardboard containers are layered in plastic and from recycling point of view worse than simple plastic.

 

[BBassic]

I do most of my veg shopping at the Open Market these days. Take my own bags / use the paper ones. Not only am I not buying plastic wrapped peppers I'm also getting way more for the money.

Managed to fill my backpack up with fruit and veg for under a tenner the last time I went. It really irks me now when I have to pick up something I need for dinner that night from a supermarket and see the prices.

One wonders how much the price would be affected if some of the cost wasn't wrapped up (pun unintended) in packaging and the like.

 

[Gazwag]

It may be selfish but I would rather buy small portions so that I can cook or eat what I want rather than a large quantity that goes off before it is used. If that means more packaging so be it.

This is the thing about old people nowadays don't give a monkies about their sons and grandsons with their "What do I care, I'll be dead before it happens" attitude

 

[BrickTamland]

If they pay for their season tickets they have as much right to come to the games as those of us who braved Withdean imo.

 

[symyjym]

Focus on the "difficult" later, but there are tons of really ridiculous ones.

Lemons and limes in a plastic bag AND tray. The worst offenders are Marks and Spencers.

A lemon will be FINE in a shopping basket ON ITS OWN. As will an onion, or garlic, or a pepper.

A cucumber will NOT LAST longer, shrink wrapped.

Do you really need a NEW PLASTIC PEPPER GRINDER every time you buy it ?

Salt in a plastic bottle - why ?

Salad bags are probably the worst offender. I've stopped buying them - it's a con. They pack loads into a bag with gas, but it deteriorates very quickly when open. Double whammy - plastic plus food waste, plus look what that industry is doing to Spain with soil impregnated with discarded poly tunnels.

Trouble is with help yourself you can get hundreds of people touching the fruit & veg before you purchase it. Items where the skin is peeled and discarded is fine sold loose but lettuce apples and tomatoes not so much. That also included with people coughing, spluttering and sneezing in the area, open food would be vile.

I remember watching one old woman going through a load of breads and squeezing them until she found the right one for her. It did look like she was on a mission to purposely vandalise the food.

Would be better off having fruit & veg dispensers, rather than loose, and you then get what you are given dropped into your bag.

 

[BensGrandad]

I went to Tesco in Burgess Hill to day with wife and with this thread in mind looked at the loose fruit and veg and found that everything that you bought like onions,carrots apples etc if put into a bag had to be plastic as that was all that was available if you didnt want them loose in your trolley. The only paper bags available were for mushrooms. Most supermarkets are the same. How many offer paperbags as an alternative?

 

[McTavish]

I went to Tesco in Burgess Hill to day with wife and with this thread in mind looked at the loose fruit and veg and found that everything that you bought like onions,carrots apples etc if put into a bag had to be plastic as that was all that was available if you didnt want them loose in your trolley. The only paper bags available were for mushrooms. Most supermarkets are the same. How many offer paperbags as an alternative?

Waitrose have now switched to compostable plastic bags for their loose fruit and veg.

 

[banjo]

 

[Bob!]

I went to Tesco in Burgess Hill to day with wife and with this thread in mind looked at the loose fruit and veg and found that everything that you bought like onions,carrots apples etc if put into a bag had to be plastic as that was all that was available if you didnt want them loose in your trolley. The only paper bags available were for mushrooms. Most supermarkets are the same. How many offer paperbags as an alternative?

I put them straight into my trolley, I don't need throwaway paper or plastic bags to take home and throw away.

My strategy after this programme last night will be if I have to buy fruit & veg in plastic bag or cling film, then I'll take that off after paying for it, and leave the plastic at the till.

 

[BensGrandad]

Waitrose have now switched to compostable plastic bags for their loose fruit and veg.

I cant afford Waitrose and a top chef once told me that LIDL fruit and veg was better quality than any of the other supermarkets.

 

[McTavish]

I cant afford Waitrose and a top chef once told me that LIDL fruit and veg was better quality than any of the other supermarkets.

As someone who shops in both Waitrose and Lidl I can tell you that your top chef is wrong (in Burgess Hill).

 

[hans kraay fan club]

I went to Tesco in Burgess Hill to day with wife and with this thread in mind looked at the loose fruit and veg and found that everything that you bought like onions,carrots apples etc if put into a bag had to be plastic as that was all that was available if you didnt want them loose in your trolley. The only paper bags available were for mushrooms. Most supermarkets are the same. How many offer paperbags as an alternative?

I realise that this might sound like ANARCHY, but have you considered putting your onions, carrots or apples in a paper 'mushroom' bag...?

 

[Juan Albion]

Trouble is with help yourself you can get hundreds of people touching the fruit & veg before you purchase it. Items where the skin is peeled and discarded is fine sold loose but lettuce apples and tomatoes not so much. That also included with people coughing, spluttering and sneezing in the area, open food would be vile.

I remember watching one old woman going through a load of breads and squeezing them until she found the right one for her. It did look like she was on a mission to purposely vandalise the food.

Would be better off having fruit & veg dispensers, rather than loose, and you then get what you are given dropped into your bag.

First world problems. Most of the world deal with it without problems. We, on the other hand, have tried to become too sanitized.

 

[GoingUp]

Why is so much plastic not able to be recycled? Surely with technology etc it shouldn't be that hard to work out.

I try do my best but nearly everything uses plastic. I would love drinks to go back to being in glass bottles as they taste so much better but there is the obvious safety hazards.