I am fed up to the back teeth

Discussion on living for a better and more responsible future
User avatar
secret squirrel
Legendary Laner
Posts: 5170
Joined: 27 Jun 2009, 13:45
Gender: Female
Location: Dartford, Kent

I am fed up to the back teeth

Post by secret squirrel »

I really am fed up to the back teeth with the amount of packaging which food comes in. We have our recycling bin collected every 2 weeks, but because everything comes double and tripple wrapped, the bin is full by the end of about day 5.
Why does everything have to come wrapped in plastic, most of which you cant get into anyway, and then has to be disposed of.
Ok some things need to be carefully wrapped , but surely not practically everything. It seems to be an uphill battle to dispose of all the plastic, tin foil, cardboard and celophane.
I would have thought the supermarkets would be trying to encourage people to buy things with `less` wrapping rather than more. I dont remember having anything more than a small dustbin, when I was a child and all the waste we had, went in easily. There seems to have been a shift to get people to recycle constantly, but its not really the consumers fault if when you go shopping, heavily packaged stuff is all thats on offer.
I like most of all the days I go to the market and buy fruit and veg loose and then at least I can use the carrier bags for when I go out with the dog.
I shall have to dicuss this with OH who usually does the main shopping and see what we can come up with, because its driving me up the wall.
Most of the stuff we so carefully put in the recycling bin is dumped in land fill anyway.
As for the `crock pot` they are issuing. We wont have much in it anyway because we dont have any leftovers, because we recycle through the animals. )gr: )gr: )gr: )gr: )gr: )gr: anything else biodegradable goes in the compost.
Sorry everyone )gr: )gr: I`ve finished ranting now that I have got that off my chest. {cry} {cry} {cry}
lorna
I`m not a teacher for nothing, you know!! If I was clever, I`d be dangerous.
User avatar
lancashire lass
Legendary Laner
Posts: 6528
Joined: 28 Jun 2007, 15:17

Re: I am fed up to the back teeth

Post by lancashire lass »

The bin issue is something I tend to find myself ranting about too - I actually dispose of stuff that I didn't actually get myself or even ask for, like all the stuff pushed through the letter box like free newspapers, leaflets, booklets and magazines (that come with whatever membership which is basically one giant advertisement and practically useless) )gr:

As for the "crock pot" - whatever happened to making just enough for what you need, and freeze or reheat the rest the next day? As for my vegetable waste, they go straight into the compost bin.
User avatar
Mad Chick
Moderator
Posts: 12882
Joined: 27 Jun 2008, 21:22
Gender: Female
Location: Mortimer, Berks

Re: I am fed up to the back teeth

Post by Mad Chick »

And why can't I put vegetable waste into our green bin? We're only allowed to put garden waste in. What's the difference between grass, plant clippings and veg peelings? )gr: )gr: )gr:

I think supermarkets should be forced to take back all the packaging and recycle it. They'd soon change their tune if we all dumped a bag full of cardboard and plastic with them every week )gr:

And bring back the deposits on bottles, then people won't throw them all over the park (or if they do, my kids will have an instant source of pocket money )t' )

Lucy x
Lucy x


Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut - Ernest Hemingway
User avatar
kate egg
Legendary Laner
Posts: 7077
Joined: 18 Sep 2008, 20:37
Gender: Female
Location: East Notts

Re: I am fed up to the back teeth

Post by kate egg »

The plastic packaging is the most annoying. We compost or feed food scraps to the dog or chooks. We use all the cardboard packaging - from fish finger boxes to washing powder boxes etc to send stuff out that middle son sells on ebay. Our post bag looks a bit like Blue Peter before they've made a model!

We don't have any wheelie bins (long story of OH who hates them so delivered them back to the local council offices one at a time through the revolving doors {rofwl} ) so what we don't recycle etc goes to the tip once a week.
User avatar
p.penn
Moderator
Posts: 33921
Joined: 07 Jun 2008, 21:46
Gender: Female
Location: Rural Sussex

Re: I am fed up to the back teeth

Post by p.penn »

Mad Chick wrote:I think supermarkets should be forced to take back all the packaging and recycle it. They'd soon change their tune if we all dumped a bag full of cardboard and plastic with them every week )gr:

Lucy x


I'm with you there Lucy - I don't understand why they are not made to take reponsibility when they are profit making.

kate egg wrote:We don't have any wheelie bins (long story of OH who hates them so delivered them back to the local council offices one at a time through the revolving doors {rofwl} )


{rofwl} {rofwl} {rofwl} You should have taped that! I bet it was a srceam! Mind you, I love my wheelie bins, they are a huge improvement for me.
Helen xx

3 children, 3 grandchildren, 3 chooks, 3 fish, a shrimp that thinks its a prawn and a dappy dog.
http://www.acountrygrandma.blogspot.com
User avatar
kate egg
Legendary Laner
Posts: 7077
Joined: 18 Sep 2008, 20:37
Gender: Female
Location: East Notts

Re: I am fed up to the back teeth

Post by kate egg »

p.penn wrote:
kate egg wrote:We don't have any wheelie bins (long story of OH who hates them so delivered them back to the local council offices one at a time through the revolving doors {rofwl} )


{rofwl} {rofwl} {rofwl} You should have taped that! I bet it was a srceam! Mind you, I love my wheelie bins, they are a huge improvement for me.

Way too embarrasing - we didn't even admit to being related to him {rofwl}
User avatar
secret squirrel
Legendary Laner
Posts: 5170
Joined: 27 Jun 2009, 13:45
Gender: Female
Location: Dartford, Kent

Re: I am fed up to the back teeth

Post by secret squirrel »

I`m glad I`m not the only one who is driven up the pole by all this ruddy cardboard and plastic.
I would have loved to seen your OH delivering the bins back. These people dont think that there is any other way to live unless its what they tell you to.
Maybe a cmapaign as Lucy says to give all the stuff back to the supermarkets, is the answer. Good idea.
lorna
I`m not a teacher for nothing, you know!! If I was clever, I`d be dangerous.
User avatar
kate egg
Legendary Laner
Posts: 7077
Joined: 18 Sep 2008, 20:37
Gender: Female
Location: East Notts

Re: I am fed up to the back teeth

Post by kate egg »

How about at the end of shopping when we've been through the check out we all take any unnecesary packaging off and leave it for the supermarket to get rid of? Or take it back the following week? I already take all my own bags, so could take them full of packaging before filling them up again with new purchases?

My OH writes very funny letters to councils and so on when he doesn't agree with something. As well as the wheelie bins he also took 4 car wheels and dumped them in front of County Hall when the tip refused to take them! (He also got banned from one of our local tips for arguing with the horrible stroppy people who work there - they accused him of dumping commercial waste even though you could see it was only household stuff!)
User avatar
secret squirrel
Legendary Laner
Posts: 5170
Joined: 27 Jun 2009, 13:45
Gender: Female
Location: Dartford, Kent

Re: I am fed up to the back teeth

Post by secret squirrel »

I had that once when I took some stuff to the tip. As I drove in with the truck we heard one of them say `look at the f***ing size of that, and because we had a small trailor on the back, sent me round to the weigh bridge. I was livid. When we got to the weigh bridge the chap said `why had you been sent round here then love?` When I told him there was much rolling of eyeballs and untoward language.
When I go to this particular tip I have to remember to give my mothers address because it is out of my area. At `my` tip which is the same distance in the other direction we have to take a bill with us to prove we live where we say we do and for many years the height barrier was to low for us to get under.
You are also banned from carrying stuff in from the road. Another directive recently imposed by the council. OH usually put the bins out and we have a calendered timetable to tell us which days to put which bins out. Sometimes they change it though if there is a bank holiday, so you never know where you are.. Also if your bin is left more than 3 feet from the front of the garden, they refuse to take it.
Where my brother lives in Leighton Buzzard , somtimes they do the round in the reverse order so some people dont get their bins emptied and if you want to get rid of newspapers you have to shred it and stuff it into cereal boxes. I ask you. No the fault lays with supermarkets and manufacturers. I agree that maybe we should take all the packaging back. Would I have the courage to do it though? I`m not as brave as your OH.
lorna
I`m not a teacher for nothing, you know!! If I was clever, I`d be dangerous.
User avatar
manda
Moderator
Posts: 17241
Joined: 04 Aug 2007, 04:22
Gender: Female
Location: New Zealand

Re: I am fed up to the back teeth

Post by manda »

I am amazed that given all the publicity regarding reducing waste that's put out through the media etc that the manufacturers have not got on on the act.

I don't know if they are in the UK but over here there is a company who sell dried fruit..their latest "great" idea was to package the fruit individually so you can put a couple of pieces on your bag, pocket ..whatever and eat it a piece at a time with no mess ...how bl**dy ridiculous is that!!
I wrote to them and asked why in this day and age they thought that it was appropriate to be doing that - got a reply back saying thanks for your comments we appreciate any feedback... >bla< >bla< >bla<
How about less thanks and more action about reducing the waste they pass onto households. Perhaps if the powers that be could actually get together and get some sort of consensus of what all this is going to do to the world, produce some images and then put them out to the world's population and say...right... do you want individually wrapped fruit or this decimated planet ?The manufacturers might realise we don't actually care what things are wrapped in we care about having somewhere for our children and grandchildren and all the other generations to live......sorry rant over )sh
Manda
¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)✰
(¸.✰´¨(¸.✰ Manda

Living our version of the Good Life with 4 dogs, 6 cats, a cow, a few sheep, Angora Goats and ???? chooks.
Don't get your knickers in a knot..it solves nothing ~ just makes you walk funny
User avatar
aparker155
Lively Laner
Posts: 169
Joined: 07 May 2009, 12:31
Location: Cambridge

Re: I am fed up to the back teeth

Post by aparker155 »

Whilst some of the problem does lie with the manufacturers and stores you do have to remember that not everyone thinks like us - I used to work for a consumer products company and although we had quite strict guidelines (company imposed) on minimising packaging when it came to consumer focus groups on packaging the consumers always gravitated towards the glitzy, overpackaged items as opposed to those I would class as more sensibly packaged. It's sad but true!

Many people are driven by advertising and materialism - even my oh 'has to have' the latest inane cleaning product which is advertised on TV even though he's never cleaned the house in his life!! :shock:
User avatar
secret squirrel
Legendary Laner
Posts: 5170
Joined: 27 Jun 2009, 13:45
Gender: Female
Location: Dartford, Kent

Re: I am fed up to the back teeth

Post by secret squirrel »

You are right of course and I appreciate what you are saying.
However its hypocrisy when people are fined for overfilling their bins and trying to get rid of the stuff.
How much of the packaging is biodegradable anyway?
Either they want to reduce waste of they dont.
lorna
I`m not a teacher for nothing, you know!! If I was clever, I`d be dangerous.
User avatar
kate egg
Legendary Laner
Posts: 7077
Joined: 18 Sep 2008, 20:37
Gender: Female
Location: East Notts

Re: I am fed up to the back teeth

Post by kate egg »

Our local council now insist that if you use a commercial vehicle (ours is a Ford Ranger pick-up) that you have to show a permit. To obtain the permit you have to get your employer to sign the application form saying that you have their permission to use your compnay vehicle for private use. So I downloaded the form, told David he had my permission to use the truck for private use, filled it in and sent it off )t' {rofwl} (we run our own business)

He makes jolly sure that he displays the permit, and often points it out as he has never yet been asked for it :? They made such a huge fuss when it was launched, and supposedly wihtout the permit you wuld be refused entry. Mind you if he had gone to the other tip (the one he is banned from) I am certain the little nazis there would scrutinise it very carefully!
User avatar
secret squirrel
Legendary Laner
Posts: 5170
Joined: 27 Jun 2009, 13:45
Gender: Female
Location: Dartford, Kent

Re: I am fed up to the back teeth

Post by secret squirrel »

Dont you just love the `oh so highly educated` staff that run the tips.? sile}
lorna
I`m not a teacher for nothing, you know!! If I was clever, I`d be dangerous.
User avatar
manda
Moderator
Posts: 17241
Joined: 04 Aug 2007, 04:22
Gender: Female
Location: New Zealand

Re: I am fed up to the back teeth

Post by manda »

aparker155 wrote:when it came to consumer focus groups on packaging the consumers always gravitated towards the glitzy, overpackaged items as opposed to those I would class as more sensibly packaged.......
.........Many people are driven by advertising and materialism


I agree with that and I know how powerful advertising campaigns can be and how they tap into people's psychi (I work in mental health so the power of suggestion can play a big part in my job).

However, I'm afraid I still think it comes back to the manufacturers...they need to get onto their advertising team and say see this bland packaging...well you come up with a campaign that makes this product the best thing since sliced bread. Advertisers are the ones who have made the glitzy stuff wanted, made it the desirable product - make the eco stuff, reduced packaging the desired stuff instead...I know it seems simple and I appreciate it's not but they have to start somewhere.
I know that those consumers who are driven by materialism will probably never change but if they can get the bulk of shoppers to shift their way of thinking ...I know ...not everyone thinks like us.

I still go back to my original thought ...show scarey images of a world falling apart of landfill sites taking over the planet and frighten them into buying less packaging...do you think I would get a job in advertising ?? {rofwl}
I
¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)✰
(¸.✰´¨(¸.✰ Manda

Living our version of the Good Life with 4 dogs, 6 cats, a cow, a few sheep, Angora Goats and ???? chooks.
Don't get your knickers in a knot..it solves nothing ~ just makes you walk funny
Post Reply