Tesco =Hypocritical

IvanOpinion

gromituk wrote:

That is true for a certain type of customer, but for others, how "green" something is can be extremely confusing. What the supermarkets must do is an environmental audit of everything they sell, and include the results on the products. They can do this for nutritional value so why not for environmental impact? Then, people will actually be able to make an informed choice. Not doing this is hypocritical.

Supermarkets are there to sell what people are willing to buy at a price that they are willing to pay. You and I may want a supermarket to only sell overpriced organically and ethically produced produce however that would cause them to close up shop in a matter of weeks. At one point I had thought that it would be worthwhile the government introducing an environmental tax on all produce the only problem is that it could price some produce out of the reach of many in the community.

But many plastic bottles can be recycled (my council collects them), and they are also a lot less dense than glass, so you expend a lot less energy transporting them. Also, I imagine that much less energy is required for recycling than glass, because of the lower temperatures involved. But this is just a guess, which illustrates how hard it is to ascertain these things.

I am led to believe that the recycling of plastic is very limited and is a high energy process with a semi-useful by product that often ends up in landfill anyway. Councils putting in plastic recycling points is often so that they can be segregated and disposed of separately .. sometimes by incineration.

I for one would back Tescos (or any supermarket) if they brought in a similar policy to the Republic of Ireland or as used by Lidl .. charge (heavily) for every bag used .. my suggestion would be a minimum of 10p each. This money should then be used to subsidise environmentally friendly produce.

Do you know, only the other day I saw coconuts wrapped in cellophane....... why?

Ivan

se999

Some people are very ratty on this thread.

Deanos - Flying is the only option when you've been working overseas coming home for a break and seeing family & friends. I assume we are allowed to do this!!

Susancarter - Local shops. The nearest shop is a 4 mile round trip, and limited range and pricey, there is a small town about 10 mile round trip, with a small supermarket limited range & pricey. We do try to combine shopping with our normal trips when we're there too. Using either of the alternative shops is not as enviromentally efficent as a multiple drop off point van, and would be too expensive to be used other than for odd items.

lynzpower

I will say from a professional perspective that many of my clients do use lots of pre-packed foods ( older people who have ocme out of hospital, those with mobilty problems, difficulties with using thier hands etc) so prechopped carrots or what have you are a boon for many of them. At least they have some nutritional value ( questionable I admit) over hospital food or meals on wheels ( reheated multiple times etc)

I dont buy things like that generally either, but lets not forget about people who use such products not out of laziness, but out of the inability to use food from fresh.

I dont think tesco has that much of a specific duty, all major retailers do it. Go to your local market, here in london almost all of it comes from overseas ( I know my dad works in wholesale fruit & veg) but its not labelled. At least in tescos and other supermarket, the goods are labelled and I can thus choose the nearest food miles wise or whatever. Lots of thier value produce is UK grown.

Ive got rocket in a pot out the back, along with rasperry & straw plants too, chives, thyme etc. I am quite surpried how easy it is to do, and my dad couldnt believe it. He said "dont tell everyone this or youll have me out of a job!". the fact remains, if the customer wants something out of season or impossible to grow here , which is what we have ALL come to expect, stop moaning. Make positive choices, and encourage your freinds & family to do the same. Lead by example, I always take my own bags and usually choose things with the least amount of packaging. Until tea and sugar are growable here in the UK ( with god knows what "scientific progress" to do so ) I will be carrying on buying things from overseas.

IvanOpinion

Whatever happend allotments .. I know some still exist but outside of these very few people even attempt to gorw their own. I did try it once but all I ever seemed to succeed in doing was to feed the local wildlife .. we had some of the fattest slugs, birds and hedgehogs I had ever seen.

Ivan

deanos

se999 wrote:

Deanos - Flying is the only option when you've been working overseas coming home for a break and seeing family & friends. I assume we are allowed to do this!!

.

I just stated that flying wasnt very enviromental friendly which it isnt.

se999

Deanos- lots of things aren't enviromentally friendly, but if there is no practical alternative we have to use them. My reply was posted because people seemed so quick to criticise and judge when they didn't know the facts.

Edit - The thread was originally about Tesco's, my post was about an aspect of their operation which I found useful. Yours was to criticise the fact that I mentioned flying, and the other post I mentioned was also trying to criticise my actions, neither was really about Tesco's. Why not assume that most people are trying to do the best they can next time.

mah_jong

I dont buy bagged salad.... sorry, its just so easy to do. Whats next tinned beans on toast.... ok, so that been done too!

What is that gas that they put in the bags to make it stay fresh then makes it rot as soon as its opened?

gromituk

IvanOpinion wrote:

Supermarkets are there to sell what people are willing to buy at a price that they are willing to pay.

and

I for one would back Tescos (or any supermarket) if they brought in a similar policy to the Republic of Ireland or as used by Lidl .. charge (heavily) for every bag used

So you think supermarkets have no responsibility over what they sell, and yet you expect them suddenly to take a responsibility over the bags they give away? I don't see how one statement can square with the other.

IvanOpinion

gromituk wrote:

So you think supermarkets have no responsibility over what they sell, and yet you expect them suddenly to take a responsibility over the bags they give away? I don't see how one statement can square with the other.

Supermarkets market, stock and sell goods that customers are asking for .. that is their core business. As a courtesy and for convenience they also provide polythene bags to make your shopping more manageable and easy to carry. These bags are an environmental nightmare .. get rid of them ... maybe I am misunderstanding your point

Ivan

gromituk

Yes, my point was that on the one hand you absolve supermarkets of all environmental resposibility for what they sell, but on the other you expect them to act responsibly in their provision of polythene bags.