So this post is almost an off shoot of my 1p swede post. Thanks for all the comments and feedback on that. Even Morrisons customer service team on twitter wanted to read my blog (thats if it wasn't blocked by their computer system). At least I got to natter with Nat (the girl behind the Morrisons tweets) who then Became Daniel. Then Asda got involved in the twitter chat after I got cheeky and suggested that @Morrisons should return their computer to @Asda for a refund or replace. Asda offered me a link with ideas on what to do with my Morrisons swede. All got rather sureal.
This post is centred around packaging. We need it to protect items, and the eye catching designs make us want to place the item in our trolley. I recon we can have too much of it though. My example is the swede. Yes the ones I paid a penny for. This is a whole veg which needs to be peeled prior to use. When I used to work in Tescos back in the day you brought a swede and paid per kg' no packaging, all was happy in the world of the swede. The swede I brought yesterday was wrapped in plastic. I fail to see how this is of any benefit, If anything it is very wastefull. This plastic is a nightmare to get off when you get the veg home, and goes straight in the bin. Then it takes years to biodegrade. I wonder why this is going on in this supposedly green age. I took to Twitter to find out. Daniel, who was doing the tweeting for Morrisons (alongside Natalie), told me its"mainly to stop the product from being damaged in transit". Now I can understand that for soft fruit, but we are talking about swede here. If I drop one on my foot, my foot would come off worse. Ive heard of wrapping things up in cotton wool, this is a case of wrapping things up in plastic. Not so fantastic!
Asda, on Twitter told me they don't know why their veg is plastic wrapped, but will get back to me. The pictures below are examples of over packaging I have found just recently. As well as the swede that inspired this post I have also found cabbages wrapped in plastic. Look at the broccoli picture. Does that really need all that packaging? As for the yogurts, is the cardboard outer packaging really needed? (at least that can be recycled easily I guess). I also pictured the waste created by the OTT wrapping - an environmental catastrophe.
Then we take all this plastic home in more plastic. I'm talking plastic bags, which are still freely handed out like dolly mixture. I've even felt like not accepting a carrier bag could cause offence on the part of the cashier. Its with the best intentions that I have a collection of re usable bags. The problrm is, when I pop into the shop I don't have the bags with me. So I end up with loads of free plastic bags cluttering up my place . I tend to reuse these, maybe in my waste paper bin, or to carry my lunch to work. I then recyle the excess at my local supermarket.
The whole bag thing is a bit of a hot topic right now. I know things are different abroad, they don't hand out the bags, you have to buy a bag for life. Ive been to a French shop without bags and had my purchases stacking up at the bottom of the till, Cashier thinking "silly English man". Us Brits just dont like the idea if paying for bags Its only 5 or 10p but still we are reluctant to pay when we can get it free. We are, I recon creatures of habbit we expect free bags at shops like we expect water to come out of a tap. How will the proposed tax on bags in Britian go down? They charge in Wales, so only a matter of time before we have to pay here. I guess if each bag is 5p we are going to try and make that effort to reuse bags, or maybe cram an extra item into a paid for bag.
Shops are offering biodegradable bags but many of these these are so flimsy they just fall apart sending your shopping falling round the car park. Don't even get me started on Primark paper bags on a wet day. What a nightmare that is!
This post is centred around packaging. We need it to protect items, and the eye catching designs make us want to place the item in our trolley. I recon we can have too much of it though. My example is the swede. Yes the ones I paid a penny for. This is a whole veg which needs to be peeled prior to use. When I used to work in Tescos back in the day you brought a swede and paid per kg' no packaging, all was happy in the world of the swede. The swede I brought yesterday was wrapped in plastic. I fail to see how this is of any benefit, If anything it is very wastefull. This plastic is a nightmare to get off when you get the veg home, and goes straight in the bin. Then it takes years to biodegrade. I wonder why this is going on in this supposedly green age. I took to Twitter to find out. Daniel, who was doing the tweeting for Morrisons (alongside Natalie), told me its"mainly to stop the product from being damaged in transit". Now I can understand that for soft fruit, but we are talking about swede here. If I drop one on my foot, my foot would come off worse. Ive heard of wrapping things up in cotton wool, this is a case of wrapping things up in plastic. Not so fantastic!
Asda, on Twitter told me they don't know why their veg is plastic wrapped, but will get back to me. The pictures below are examples of over packaging I have found just recently. As well as the swede that inspired this post I have also found cabbages wrapped in plastic. Look at the broccoli picture. Does that really need all that packaging? As for the yogurts, is the cardboard outer packaging really needed? (at least that can be recycled easily I guess). I also pictured the waste created by the OTT wrapping - an environmental catastrophe.
Then we take all this plastic home in more plastic. I'm talking plastic bags, which are still freely handed out like dolly mixture. I've even felt like not accepting a carrier bag could cause offence on the part of the cashier. Its with the best intentions that I have a collection of re usable bags. The problrm is, when I pop into the shop I don't have the bags with me. So I end up with loads of free plastic bags cluttering up my place . I tend to reuse these, maybe in my waste paper bin, or to carry my lunch to work. I then recyle the excess at my local supermarket.
The whole bag thing is a bit of a hot topic right now. I know things are different abroad, they don't hand out the bags, you have to buy a bag for life. Ive been to a French shop without bags and had my purchases stacking up at the bottom of the till, Cashier thinking "silly English man". Us Brits just dont like the idea if paying for bags Its only 5 or 10p but still we are reluctant to pay when we can get it free. We are, I recon creatures of habbit we expect free bags at shops like we expect water to come out of a tap. How will the proposed tax on bags in Britian go down? They charge in Wales, so only a matter of time before we have to pay here. I guess if each bag is 5p we are going to try and make that effort to reuse bags, or maybe cram an extra item into a paid for bag.
Shops are offering biodegradable bags but many of these these are so flimsy they just fall apart sending your shopping falling round the car park. Don't even get me started on Primark paper bags on a wet day. What a nightmare that is!