Tesco Recycling

knuckledragger

I've been stewing over this for a while but now's the time to start venting!

Back in the day, you'd take your Glass, Metal and Plastic items to your local Tesco recycling machine. Having registered your cubcard, you'd duly feed the machine and receive a single point for each item. It gave a warm feeling to know that I was partaking in saving the planet AND receiving clubcard points effectively for free. I'd also take along my paper and cardboard waste and post those in their respective bins. Everyone's a winner, as Tesco would no doubt get something for this.

But something strange happened. One day I did my duty to be greeted with a change of policy- I'd now only be given one clubcard point for every FOUR items of Glass, Metal and Plastic. I felt cheated at this point but, what the heck, I could cut large plastic items in half and not lose out too much...

Then the bins were sealed up to prevent paper and cardboard being posted. Only after I read about the price of paper falling through the floor and the cost to store "paper mountains" increasing did I realise the likely reason for this.

Could it get any worse? Of course! Now the machine will only credit clubcard points for ALUMINIUM cans. By all means post Glass, Metal and Plastic but you get no thanks (points) for it unless it occupies Position 13 on the Standard Periodic Table (you know you want to check this...;) ).

Bad show Tesco! (Does that sound like a potential rallying cry/teeshirt design?)

Tozer

Surely recycling is all about longevity for our planet and not clubcard points?

LittleTinker

They stopped it because it was being abused by people like you....they found that people were cutting things in half to get more points and breaking bottles too for more points.

So effectively, the ones who are greedy have spoilt it for everyone....as they usually do.

It was a silly scheme to begin with as it was obvious what was going to happen.

As the poster above says, recycling should be for the good of the planet...not for monetary rewards.

(lets not even mention the new report of "recycling creating more global warming than not recycling")

Tozer

You are right that recycling everything may be counter-productive from an environmental perspective.

But I still recycle everything I can - and do you know what? Tesco flipping clubcard points don't feature in my decision. IT IS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT not making 3 and a half pence!

RHemmings

Tozer wrote: »

You are right that recycling everything may be counter-productive from an environmental perspective.

But I still recycle everything I can - and do you know what? Tesco flipping clubcard points don't feature in my decision. IT IS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT not making 3 and a half pence!

I agree.

However, I was asked if I wanted a bag at B&Q when buying a pair of gloves. Having a backpack on, I said that I didn't need one. The assistant then mentioned that bags are now 10p. I did mention that I was avoiding using bags for the environment, not to avoid the cost. But she told me that many people said "yes" when offered a bag, but "no" when told it would cost 10p. Hence I do agree with some form of reward for recycling, or penalty for not recycling. As too many people need the extra motivation of "something [directly] in it for me."

Norfolk_Jim

In switzerland a lot of the packaging you pay a deposit for, then when you feed the packaging into their version of the machine (looks like a big medical scanner) it reads the barcode and prints out a coupon you present off your shopping. I saved lots on my self catering by taking back bags of bottles and tubs other tourists discarded at the camp site either because they could not be bothered or didnt know. Tesco could learn something from the Swiss.

DCFC79

Tesco points shouldnt really matter when it comes to recycling, we recycle plastics that we would normally put in the bin eg margarine tubs, the containers fruit and veg come in, the trays chicken comes in, where the vent is i dont know, tessco are allowed to change said policy whne they want, it might have something to do with some people cutting the plastic up into small pieces so then from 1 plastic bottle they would get say 10 points instead of 1

spora

The was a news story a while ago that a couple wanted a honey moon but they didnt have much money. The decided to collect neighbours rubbish, pick litter off the streets etc. and then recycle them at Tesco to get the points. Then convert the points into airmiles and stuff. They said they realised that if they cut the items in half they would get double the points, so they did that. There was a statement from Tesco at the end of the article that said that they were misusing their policy and because of people doing this they have since decided to change the policy to stop people doing this.

Edit: here the article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7654254.stm
I just had a quick scan through and couldnt see anything about Tesco saying they changed their policy because of people like them, but im pretty sure i read it somewhere.

DCFC79

spora wrote: »

The was a news story a while ago that a couple wanted a honey moon but they didnt have much money. The decided to collect neighbours rubbish, pick litter off the streets etc. and then recycle them at Tesco to get the points. Then convert the points into airmiles and stuff. They said they realised that if they cut the items in half they would get double the points, so they did that. There was a statement from Tesco at the end of the article that said that they were misusing their policy and because of people doing this they have since decided to change the policy to stop people doing this.

Edit: here the article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7654254.stm
I just had a quick scan through and couldnt see anything about Tesco saying they changed their policy because of people like them, but im pretty sure i read it somewhere.

thats what i was thinking, im sure the change has something to do with that incident,

ChrisCobra

In Sweden most Co-op's and mainstream shops will refund you a small amount when you use their recycling machines. Fully automated and like a previous user indicated the price is a little higher but you get it refunded and it also encourages recycling and is a better system in my opinion.

People needs to get off their ars3s in the government and implement this system , it works in many other places. Why cant Britain be a bit more civilized is beyond me. We have crappy recycling , crappy internet service and crappy customer service unlike many of our other EU countries! I'm frankly glad im moving to stockholm with my girlfriend and our daughter this year as this country as a whole is going to hell.

Chris

Halloway

OP has a highly apposite username.