The War against plastic waste

Mummy2cheekymonkeys

TheBanker wrote: »

I think this just proves there is no simple answer. I just went to Tesco to buy some peppers (yes I know I sound like the case study on the TV!). 48p each lose, or a pack of 3 wrapped in plastic for 91p. I only actually wanted two (a red and a green!) but it was cheaper to buy 3. I won't waste the yellow one, I'll find a use for it, but how many people would chuck it in the bin?

So in certain cases the plastic might be preventing food waste by extending shelf life, but it might be creating food waste by encouraging people to buy more than they will use. In this specific case I wonder if the shelf life argument applies at all, given Tesco are quite happy to sell lose peppers.

I do agree with all of this. Although as is the case with the peppers I do think it's not quite as clear cut as them costing more for being in plastic as sometimes the peppers in those packs are tiny but the loose ones generally seem to me to be quite a bit bigger. I'd like to know the price difference by weight. In the main though it does seems we are screwed over for price if we want to buy loose produce.

CurlyTop

A really good interesting post.

In terms of reusable metal straws, Asda currently sell 4 with a straw cleaning brush for £2.50. This is cheapest 've seen them other than 6 for £4.99 in Homesense.

I agree with food packaging. I remember going to greengrocers when I was a child to get my mum's 'messages' and you were presented with holes in the wall into which you would put your weighing scale tray to scoop up the potatoes of your choice and take to be put into paper to purchase. The potatoes had soil on them but that was no hardship. I find washed potatoes don't last long before they are sprouting

Idecided to have a go at buying loose Maris piper potatoes the other week and picked 3 large ones ....£2.09 they were!. As i'd queued at the till to weigh them and due to mobility issues had no energy to tromp elsewhere, I just wanted to go home, I bought them. Won't be doing that again. I could have got a bag for about £1.50 .....albeit in plastic. The loose versus bagged products has a long way to go to get the balance right ...but that's a whole other conversation.

TheBanker

Mummy2cheekymonkeys wrote: »

I do agree with all of this. Although as is the case with the peppers I do think it's not quite as clear cut as them costing more for being in plastic as sometimes the peppers in those packs are tiny but the loose ones generally seem to me to be quite a bit bigger. I'd like to know the price difference by weight. In the main though it does seems we are screwed over for price if we want to buy loose produce.

I didn't look at the price per kg. I think the single ones were slightly bigger than the ones in the packet, but the packet contained three for less than the price of two individual unwrapped ones.

The Peppers are just one example. It's virtually impossible to buy anything in my local Tesco that's not wrapped in plastic. You used to be able to take your own containers for fresh meet, but now the meat counter has closed. This also annoys me as a single person - I want three sausages not eight. Again, creating food waste. Well done Tesco!

Farway

TheBanker wrote: »

Again, creating food waste. Well done Tesco!

Ah but generating profits;)


Like sauce & mustard, it's not what you eat it's what you chuck away that helps generate profit

[Deleted User]

Farway wrote: »

Ah but generating profits;)


Like sauce & mustard, it's not what you eat it's what you chuck away that helps generate profit

Sadly thats what today's shopping is about ,all the guff about 'Every little helps' is sales speak for 'Every little helps our profits'. These mammoth superstore created according to the big four supermarkets at the public's request is really about bigger stores mean more tills ringing.

The days of going to the shops and buying just what you need have long gone I use my local Dobbies where there is a lovely deli and meat counter and if you want three sausage then you can buy three.But often in a big SM its a case of big this pack of 16 for half the price .

The consequences usually are either freezing the surplus or over eating .As a child growing up in the 1940s-50s there were fewer obese folk around as
A. folk walked everywhere
B. rationing restricted the buying power
C storage was more difficult ,virtually no freezers and very few fridges
D lack of actual cash to buy stuff with as well.

All of these things have changed 60 years on The majority of shoppers drive to out of town superstores,rationing food is considered almost barbaric and folk seem to want to buy mammoth amounts of food (a lot of which will be binned causing more landfill problems
Many more homes have fridges and freezers to store this unwanted food in
and of course there is more cash around ,or rather more c/cards about to buy good with
To me buying food with a credit card is a dangerous road to travel and I personally buy my food with old fashion cash I have a set amount each month for my budget and I never exceed it ,in fact I usually am under budget ,but the residue goes into my holiday fund at the end of the month

Perhaps more shops selling as shown on TV recently stuff in reusable containers brought by the customer would be a better way I know I would be quite happy to be able to reuse bottle and jars to refill food with from a shop . Seems a far more sensible idea than all the heaps of plastic junk that ends up rotting for the next thousand years ,but then as I said I am old fashioned :):)

JackieO xx

Primrose

I was dispirited to read today that a lifelong volunteer beach cleaner has just declared he's quitting his self appointed task because he believes we,ve already lost the environmental war to save the oceans from pollution which is where much of our unwanted plastic ends up.

I don't know whether he is right or wrong in his assertion but it should, I believe , encourage us to try even harder and campaign more aggressively for people to be better educated about reducing and disposing of our waste.

My current dilemma is looking at two rather grubby fleeces which need to be washed and the realisation now that every time I put them in the washing machine thousands of more tiny micro plastic beads or whatever this type of fabric is constituted of, are going to be released into the drainage system and ultimately flow into the oceans.

I can,t throw these warm garments away. I wear them to help reduce the heating bills and keep me warm so can anybody come up with a magic answer to solving this conundrum which must be faced by many thoughtful families where their laundry is concerned.

DigForVictory

You wash your fleeces & enjoy them, but when it comes to replacement, you ask the vendors Who Made the fleece. This article on how fleece is made suggests Patagonia ruthlessly recycle, but not 100%, whereas if you go for Maldon Mills' Polartec® fabrics with Repreve® you get the downside of two brandnames to push up the price but 100% recycled materials.

Plus, since the brandnames should be obvious, it's worth being picky in the charity shops (you'd be stunned but possibly also enchanted how many lovely garments end up handed over for all sorts of reasons) so not only can you have an unspeakably eco correct and still cosy garment but at an altogether more reasonable price.

Repair, reuse, recycle, repurpose, refuse. I'll not refuse a warm fleece, and we've replaced zips, restrung elastic cords, handed firmly onto siblings (our youngest does *occasionally* get brand new stuff) and one fleece that had an accident by the fireside got turned into a newborn cousin's outdoor garb and two small stuffed toys. I remembered my grandmother unravelling & reknitting sweaters, and doing amazing things with a really lovely sweater that had been washed wrong. I had cashmere mittens...

If we give up, we doom our children & grandchildren & hopes of further generations. Wash the fleeces and carry on, persistent small steps at a time!

thriftmonster

I have seen these for washing fleeces:


https://www.welovefrugi.com/baby-toddler-clothes/accessories-and-soft-toys/hats-and-bibs/guppyfriend_2_guppyfriend.htm?utm_source=google&utm_medium=base&productid=41788&gclid=Cj0KCQjw6cHoBRDdARIsADiTTzYrVVVPolaXqUutXC2NPYCCku19lP1ypJTvsKF3MRVFmh7olax9-lgaAttMEALw_wcB


Expensive but a possibility?

MoneySeeker1

I threw out a fleece I had in the end, as I couldn't see just how to wash it without it "shedding". I had had a lot of use from it and so it didn't "owe me anything".

I've since read that clothes made from all artificial fibres "shed" plastic particles and not just fleece ones. That was my cue for deciding to be more careful what clothes I buy in future and that I get a reasonable amount of "wear" from any that are partially/totally artificial before washing them.

Which reminds me that I meant to google re Johnsons Drycleaners, as I read something about they have a particular process they use for drycleaning that's less harmful than other drycleaning methods. Must check that out to see whether it's greenwashing or true.

[Deleted User]

I do my best to stick to cotton as much as possible mainly as I have found over the years artificial material seems to cause me no end of problems with 'static' I am a real live wire at times

JackieO