War on Waste

milasavesmoney

Pollycat wrote: »

Apparently he's tackling Amazon who often send small items in massive boxes - that's my experience too.

And coffee chains too about their cups.

This is my gripe with Amazon too!

kboss2010

Pollycat wrote: »

Apparently he's tackling Amazon who often send small items in massive boxes - that's my experience too.

And coffee chains too about their cups.

... because they are reusing boxes that have been returned! That's far better than putting them into bales and recycling them - less energy used. Although lots of very large boxes for very small items could contribute to more CO2 emissions due to wasted space in delivery planes/vans/trains.

Coffee chains, on the other hand, no longer have an excuse. There are biodegradable cups available to them and they should be encouraging customers to bring their own refillable cup by offering a small discount like a lot of local shops do.

maman

kboss2010 wrote: »

... because they are reusing boxes that have been returned! That's far better than putting them into bales and recycling them - less energy used. Although lots of very large boxes for very small items could contribute to more CO2 emissions due to wasted space in delivery planes/vans/trains.

Coffee chains, on the other hand, no longer have an excuse. There are biodegradable cups available to them and they should be encouraging customers to bring their own refillable cup by offering a small discount like a lot of local shops do.

How do you get to return boxes to Amazon?

Gigervamp

maman wrote: »

How do you get to return boxes to Amazon?

I'm guessing it's the boxes that returned items have arrived in.

kboss2010

Gigervamp wrote: »

I'm guessing it's the boxes that returned items have arrived in.

Yep, that's why they're random sizes. It's part of their reduce, re-use, recycle policies.

Pollycat

kboss2010 wrote: »

Yep, that's why they're random sizes. It's part of their reduce, re-use, recycle policies.

Then I'm surprised that HFW is making such a fuss about it in his new series. Amazon would have just made him look silly when he tackled them about it.

Maybe there's more to the story.

kboss2010

I should probably say that I think he's really irritating. He's like the celeb chef version of Pippa Middleton - dispensing advice at the level of 'no s***, Sherlock!' whilst claiming to be revolutionary and a stalwart of smug middle classness.

I can almost forgive Nigella for doing the same but not him. At least Nigella doesn't take herself that seriously nor pretend that she's doing the world a favour. He just seems to live in a bubble and doesn't know how the world works.

Farway

Pollycat wrote: »

And coffee chains too about their cups.

discussion on R4 you & yours this lunchtime

Regardless of what coffee chains, or public do, and whatever recycle symbol is on the cups, no UK local authority will take them for recycling

This discussion was prompted because of HFW programme & a bloke has designed a new type of cup with liner that floats off in recyling, lost cause at moment, no LA will recycle them

You may think you have recycled them, but the waste is classed as contaminated further along the chain and goes to landfill regardless

kboss2010

Pollycat wrote: »

Then I'm surprised that HFW is making such a fuss about it in his new series. Amazon would have just made him look silly when he tackled them about it.

Maybe there's more to the story.

There probably is, Pollycat. Most big chains' environmental policies are mostly token gestures that amount to not very much actual environmental saving. They do these things because they sound good in PR statements, not because they genuinely care. They do the bare minimum required by legislation and then claim they're doing their bit to turn the earth back into the garden of Eden lol.

VfM4meplse

Pollycat wrote: »

Apparently he's tackling Amazon who often send small items in massive boxes - that's my experience too.

And coffee chains too about their cups.

I am a big fan of ceramic mugs and often use them during a journey, when I make my own from home. I never take them into coffee shops because they are far too small for even small coffee chain servings.

On the other hand, they can be v MSE when Mum and I decide to split a large hot drink in the car.