Reduce waste, buy less!
6 April 2007
Almost everything we have will end up as waste eventually, but packaging can be exceptionally wasteful. It’s often only there to make products look enticing and much of it isn’t needed.
Classic examples are the little sets of four apples or eight tomatoes sold in a foam tray, wrapped in another layer of clingfilm. Bottled water and fast food are prize culprits. All this packaging ends up in the bin soon after we bring it home and contributes to the massive 31 million tonnes of waste we produce each year as a nation.
With a little thought we can easily reduce this. You can buy fruit and vegetables loose - the checkout people really don’t mind. Very frustrating is the way supermarket organic produce often comes with more packaging than conventional. Smaller shops (organic and conventional) tend to have loose veg which you can take away with you in paper bags (compostable). Making your own sandwiches instead of buying them ready-made could save a daily plastic triangular box from landfill. Buying in bulk where you can saves lots of packaging and can be cost effective.
If you make a packed lunch for your child, how about putting their drink in a refillable bottle? This will save buying mini orange juices in disposable cartons.
Easter eggs are hopelessly over packaged – most have an outer layer of cardboard, a second layer of firm plastic and a layer of foil around the egg itself. If you really can’t resist them, don’t forget to tear up the cardboard box the egg came in and compost it. Alternatively the www.recyclenow.com website has some crafty ideas as to how to make your own hand painted Easter eggs, or use the packaging creatively from the chocolate ones.
We can do our best as shoppers to minimise our own waste, but most of us would like some reassurance that government and industry are doing something as well. With this in mind, it’s good to know that the EU packaging directive is placing tighter demands on big businesses, forcing them to take responsibility for recycling higher percentages of the packaging they produce year on year, and to prove it. Many of them are starting to feel the pinch and this will result in reduced packaging before long. I say this to be encouraging – your efforts will be part of a wider movement to reduce waste and the tide is slowly turning.