Over Wrapped Threesomes

July 2007

The Blue Box for recycling paper, glass
and cans

With the amount of media on plastic bags around the world, one wonders why there isn't also pressure on manufacturers to reduce or think about the packaging they wrap their goods with.  There have been mentions of landfills becoming full and with that in mind governments are trying to encourage householders to recycle. Click here for more details.

In the UK, local councils are now collecting rubbish once a fortnight and refusing to take bins that are over full.  Additionally there has been talk of charging for the amount of waste collected.

Let's understand the problem.

Inappropriate packaging comes from the manufacturer

With triple wrapped Easter Eggs, double wrapped biscuits and chicken, the householders are to be taxed for packaging abuse.  With this in mind, I have left packaging at the cashier telling them there is too much wrapping.  Slightly bemused looks, and the rubbish I left is placed straight into the bin!

A box of chicken and using them to "store" things in them

For a bigger impact, I now keep the surplus wrapping and then return them to the supermarkets that sold them to me.  After all, some of the packagings have the words "Recycle", without providing information on how they are to be recycled.  Recycling parks do not collect items like plastic egg cartons.  My local Tescos has been pretty amicable about this, whilst Iceland held some resistance until I showed them that their packaging says "Recycle"!

The most excellent thing is now other shoppers watching my commotion say they will also return packaging to the supermarket that distributes them.  Hopefully, in turn supermarkets will tell manufacturers that they don't want over wrapped products.

Councils cut rubbish collection but do not help householders to reduce their waste

With the fortnightly collection, food scraps are left to rot in bins.  I wish I took a picture of my bin, the maggots were crawling everywhere and it stunk, even though the food scraps had been wrapped and secured in plastic bags.  It was totally gross as I cleaned out the bin!

Richmond borough is one of the few boroughs that I know that collects food scraps for composting.  The rest of the boroughs go along with cost saving cuts in rubbish collection but do not provide alternative methods to encourage the householder to recycle and reduce the rubbish they produce. 

<Evil thought: what if I gave the councils my cooked food rubbish until they provided better collection methods that incorporated food scraps>

Recycle parks take a variety of household rubbish but not food

Inadequate information informing householders about recycling

The UK has finally made smoking in public places illegal.  This got a lot of advertising.  However, new laws on electrical item disposal have been introduced on the same day smoking was banned.  Wonder how many UK businesses know about this as they're the ones who will be penalised and I guess in turn we the consumers will be affected!

Some tips to recycle, reduce, reuse your rubbish

Cages of cardboard boxes to be returned

• Take clean plastic foils and packaging back to the supermarkets and let them know it's their problem and it should not be passed back to the householder.
• Look for cages of cardboard boxes outside supermarkets and place your cardboard there.  Supermarkets recycle cardboard boxes.
• If councils reduce rubbish collection to once a fortnight them demand they increase methods for recycling.
• Check your local dump for what they will recycle.
• Check out the website Recycle Now
• If you have items that are in good condition but have no need for them, try Free Cycle.  People looking for these items can collect them from you for free!
• Examine the plastic grades at the back of the boxes.  These should be used to grade the plastic accordingly.  In the US, some states request householders sort their plastic before collecting them.  To see what they're used for, click here.  One day I'm sure they'll become  collectors items :o)

Plastic encryption: "PS Pet Hope" (actually the last is hdpe)

The Plastic Bottle Material Code System was designed to be easy to read at a glance and distinguishable from any other marking on the bottom of a container. The symbol consists of a triangle formed by three "chasing arrows", with a specific number in the centre that indicates the plastic resin from which the bottle is made.