Reducing single-use/disposable plastic
72 watchers
Sep 2018
5:34pm, 14 Sep 2018
3,257 posts
|
run free
Wow - way to go Cockburn, Au |
|
Sep 2018
1:17pm, 22 Sep 2018
3,261 posts
|
run free
Anyone joining in to send your empty packet of crisps (or any other plastic container) back to the shops / manufacturers? theguardian.com |
Sep 2018
1:28pm, 22 Sep 2018
35,717 posts
|
alpenrose
My biggest bugbear has always been the packaging of food. I remember when pouches of cat food first came in and I thought then "what's wrong with tins as they can be recycled but the plastic can't?". I would love that things like crisps were in different packaging but I don't know what alternative would keep them as "fresh" as plastic. Despite this year's full-on focus on reducing plastic packaging we are still seeing more and more things being wrapped like this with some things having misleading wording like "now foil wrapped" on a shiny plastic covering of potatoes in an inside plastic box. (Roosters Apache) |
|
Sep 2018
2:50pm, 22 Sep 2018
3,262 posts
|
run free
SNACT say they use a garden compostable packaging that takes 3 months to compost. Am testing it at the moment. snact.co.uk So far it has stayed totally inside the home, nearly 1 year after I got it. Will be putting in the soil in October. Yeah lots of mis-leading stuff coming out. A guy at parkrun was talking about using bio-plastic and hadn't realised it might be the same as normal plastic, just created from a "biological" source. Biodegradable could mean 20 years & compostable could mean requiring an industrial biodigester. It's a minefield. |
Sep 2018
6:35pm, 22 Sep 2018
1,254 posts
|
Silvershadow
At the airport they made me take my liquids out of my see-through fabric bag and put them in their plastic one to go through security. Well you can’t argue with security can you?
|
Sep 2018
5:31am, 23 Sep 2018
246 posts
|
Jenelopy
@Silvershadow that is interesting, I will remember that when I travel to Europe next month and either not bring liquids or pack in hold luggage. At least you can reuse the plastic bag next time, so it wont be single use... (I do understand that the plastic bag never needed to exist, and feel your pain). |
|
Sep 2018
7:46am, 23 Sep 2018
35,725 posts
|
alpenrose
That's quite interesting runfree. It'll give a whole new meaning to the "best before" date too, I think.
|
Sep 2018
9:59am, 23 Sep 2018
134 posts
|
roberton
I don't agree with the idea of sending Walker's crisp packets back to them (the guardian article). Seems like a publicity stunt to me, one that arbitrarily picks one one manufacturer (albeit the biggest) and has the obvious environmental costs of transporting rubbish through the post! Great if you care about virtue signalling, less great otherwise. Until there are alternatives people can choose to not buy packets of crisps, or only buy them in bigger packets to reduce the ratio of packaging to product. And more generally we already have mechanisms to encourage change: research, development, awareness and ultimately competition - the moment people start selling good alternativeness people can buy them instead of the current ones. That's my thinking anyway! |
Sep 2018
10:20am, 23 Sep 2018
4,030 posts
|
TeeBee
I am of the leaning that all manufacturers should pay the environmental cost of their packaging decisions. I know that may in the short term lead to higher prices but in the long term it will make making environmentally sound decisions worthwhile. Its a strong belief of mine but I'm very happy to hear the counter arguments to a poluter pays policy. There's bound to be one.  probably around who decides which packaging attracts which levies. These things are never as simple as they may first appear.
|
|
Sep 2018
1:19pm, 23 Sep 2018
135 posts
|
roberton
I definitely agree that's a sound principle Any time there is an activity that has a cost (in the general sense, not necessarily financial) that is borne by others, then there is a good case to have a tax that reflects. As you might know, in economics jargon this is a negative externality and a Pigovian tax respectively. We have some in the environmental sphere already in fuel duty, carbon pricing schemes etc. I reckon it can be a very small tax to begin with, to nudge things. Then see how it goes, especially as knowledge on alternatives improves. But as you suggest, the devil is in the details! |
Related Threads
-
Reusable/collapsible water cups
Oct 2024
-
The Green Runners
Apr 2024
-
Journey to Zero Waste
Jan 2024
-
Preventing Food Waste Ideas
Dec 2021
-
Shred everyone - the Fetchland paperless office thread
Aug 2021
-
Retirement home for trainers
Jul 2021
-
Recycling in the current new world
Apr 2020
-
Christmas - lowering the carbon footprint.
Dec 2019
-
Re-usable, collapsible cups
Jul 2018
-
Show Me Your Bottle!
Apr 2017
Report This Content
You can report any content you believe to be unsafe. Please let me know why you believe this content is unsafe by choosing a category below.
Thank you for your report. The content will be assessed as soon as possible.