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Author Topic:   Supermarkets and packaging
wheelsofcheese
Knowflake

Posts: 208
From: UK
Registered: Jan 2008

posted February 01, 2008 05:17 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for wheelsofcheese     Edit/Delete Message
Is anybody like me bothered about the way supermarkets use unecessary packaging on their products? Which we as the consumer has to recycle? Overpackaged goods are obscene in this day and age.

I was discussing this with my friend and we thought it would be a good idea to pay for our shopping and the remove all the unwanted packaging and leave it in the store, either at the end of the checkout or in the suermarket bin outside. Commercial waste taxes are huge in the UK and if everybody did this the supermarket would soon be hit in the only place that matters to them (their wallet) and may decrease the packaging they use. If we wait for them to get an environmental conscience without a financial incentive then we'll be waiting forever.

I don't fancy getting imprisoned though. Is my idea legal?

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blue moon
Moderator

Posts: 1169
From: U.K
Registered: Dec 2007

posted February 01, 2008 06:42 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for blue moon     Edit/Delete Message
Funnily enough, I have heard of someone working in recycling who does do this - but I can't vouch for the truth of it as I've not seen them do it.

It might not be illegal but it would p!ss the supermarket off. The problem is will it be the decision makers who get annoyed - or the girls on the tills working for minimum wage who get to clean it up?

My strategy is to opt for local market produce where I can and recycle as much as possible.

I always get odd looks when I say I don't want a carrier bag. I carry a 'bag for life' around with me and try and avoid the plastic bags.

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Eleanore
Moderator

Posts: 2512
From: Japan
Registered: Aug 2003

posted February 01, 2008 08:32 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Eleanore     Edit/Delete Message
"Ben Bradshaw, the Environment Minister, has urged shoppers to dump food packaging at supermarket checkouts and to report companies that use excessive wrapping to trading standards officers. Do manufacturers use too much packaging? Would you be willing to take action against them? How practical is it to unwrap your purchases at the checkout - what do you think would be the reaction of your fellow shoppers? Read the article and our eco-worrier blog and send us your comments using the form below."

Do supermarkets use excessive packaging?


Imo, they do. I recently noticed just how much trash we have to toss that is not "natural". The bulk of our trash is packaging. The recycling standards in Japan are really high and strict and if you don't separate your trash and place it in the approved trash bags for your area (which are marked by zones) it will not be picked up. And it isn't just "recyclable" and "not recyclable" ... there's a whole manual given to you upon renting a house/apt. with detailed "how to manage your trash" instructions and reminder sections in the phonebooks.


I understand food safety concerns but I really think the packaging is excessive. But then you get those crazy looks when you don't separate each individual produce type into those annoying produce bags. I have a cart and my apples will really be okay if I just stack them. I understand it's more convenient for them with the whole weighing in at checkout thing. But the weird looks persist even if it's a friggin' melon that doesn't exactly fit in the bags ... which they then try to double bag at checkout. Aren't there smaller, reusable and enviro-friendly bags that can be used for produce?

Lately, if it has too much packaging that cannot be recycled I honestly consider just not purchasing it and often won't unless it's one of those things I really need. I am also glad to see recycled TP and PTs on the aisles but it would be nicer if they weren't in plastic bags, too.

Styrofoam, unrecyclable plastics, those weird little moist paper things between your cheese slices and then again between the cheese and the styrofoam, saran wrap and cellophane, not quite paper doily things in your baked goods, having to open 3 or 4 separate bags or containers just to get to your food. Ah!


And I detest plastic bags. Recently we've been switching to the reusable kind and that at least has gone well. They even provide them at the commissary for I think about 50 or 75 cents each. But off base the way they wrap your goods, although thorough and the effort is appreciated, they use too much packaging, too. (And they aren't having the "put it in my own bag thing" although that might be a language barrier issue.) Like when people purchase meats ... it's already in the styrofoamy, papered, saran-wrapped package. But then at checkout it gets its own little clear plastic baggie and then is placed in a bigger, thicker plastic bag, separate from all the other items, and they actually tape all your bags shut with (1) clear tape to secure them and (2) special store identifiable, this-item(s)-has-been-legitimately-purchased tape. Sometimes they'll add filling material like cardboard or what appears to be some sort of tissue, gift-type paper to "balance" the load in a bag. The strawberries require surgical precision to open without being squashed. It's just very weird.

Wow. Didn't know I had much to say about market trash. I wonder how they'd react at check out if I just opened up all my stuff and left the trash there for them. They don't even like it when I buy my kid a cookie and ask them to toss out the little paper bag they insisted on giving me to walk all 15 paces from the bakery to the check out lane.

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wheelsofcheese
Knowflake

Posts: 208
From: UK
Registered: Jan 2008

posted February 06, 2008 06:32 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for wheelsofcheese     Edit/Delete Message
Cor, what a fab response Eleanore. Much much food for thought (package free, of course).
I got a funny look the other day in Tesco when I brought my own bag - I was asked if I had a clubcard (loyalty card thing) because if I brought my own I would get 'green points' on my clubcard. When I said 'no' the checkout lady was astounded. 'What? You need no financial incentive to use a sustainable carrier?'. Having worked in Tesco myself for a couple of years your concern about the minimum wage peeps bearing the brunt is spot-on Blue. I am going to try to wean myself off supermarkets altogether.

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Nephthys
Moderator

Posts: 3800
From: California
Registered: Oct 2001

posted February 06, 2008 12:32 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Nephthys     Edit/Delete Message
YES!!! I can't stand walking through a "supermarket" with aisles full of packaged, processed "boxed" food. Who ever said that "food" should come in a box? That's funny, I thought that food grew either below or above ground. It's a wonder that produce sections aren't bigger and nonsense/junkfood processed "food" sections aren't smaller.

Everyone should bring their own reusable bags when shopping. I love it! It sure saves on the environment!

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robyn.c
Knowflake

Posts: 75
From: england
Registered: Dec 2007

posted February 06, 2008 02:39 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for robyn.c     Edit/Delete Message
REAL food comes in its own packaging

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Motherkonfessor
Knowflake

Posts: 1140
From:
Registered: Oct 2003

posted February 07, 2008 08:18 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Motherkonfessor     Edit/Delete Message
Yes!!

Ditto on the fruit thing!!!
I could never ever understand why I should be obligated to put every different fruit or veggie into its own plastic bag.
And I have never really acknowledged it until now that people DO look at me funny when I just put it in a cart!!

Yeah, I am the weird one 'cause I don't want to add to the landfills.... sheesh...

MK

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