Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Plastics



Yesterday we had a delivery from Sainsbury, this is not something we do often, but when things get scarce such as coffee beans at the Co-op, then we order difficult stuff from Sainsbury.  Because we do not 'do' plastic bags everything gets ceremoniously dumped on the hall floor, not by the driver I hasten to add.  But of course within the stuff you order there is PLASTIC.  That man made material that refuses to breakdown in the environment, pollutes our oceans, starves our fish, birds, whales and turtles because of them ingesting the rubbish that floats around.
The human race is a messy race, they are now worrying about the tons of scrap metal that circles our Earth, we actually don't know what to do with waste except create it.  Well it has to stop sometime! 
In Amsterdam there is a new supermarket called 'Ekoplaza, who are trying out the first aisle free plastic, as you can see from the video at the top.  A brave start, Iceland in our country is also making strides into the plastic free market, though somewhat behind.  Actually the 'green movement' has been trying for years, what happened to bags made out of potatoes?  Harvest the shop in Bath used to sell things from wooden boxes and help yourself herbs though it has moved on since and there have been many shops like it.
The answer comes though from us, the consumer, asking for a change, choosing what we buy.  Okay I can see the first thing popping into people's mind, it will be more expensive, maybe, maybe not.  The Ekoplaza CEO says there will be no change in pricing they will take the hit.
Are we entitled to cheap food? or should we pay a fair and just price, or probably more to the point should we not undermine the  company shareholders who live off the profits ;) ;)  Socialist message for the day..................

Guardian Article

And then there is this, Aril has been round a recycling outfit - Biffa

10 comments:

  1. It is so difficult to avoid plastic in the shops isn't it? Our green grocery stall on the market on Fridays puts everything into brown paper bags - not a plastic container to be seen - so refreshing.

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    1. Yes markets are practically the only places where you can get paper bags Pat.

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  2. You should pay a fair price to cover the cost of the production of the food. Forget a preoccupation with shareholders and remember the people who produce, whether they be a vineyard in France or an orchard in Italy or an onion farmer in the Fens. The supermarkets control them all with their unfair contract terms, their price wars
    and their customers who don't care whether they eat an English Bramley apple or a French Golden Delicious as long as it's cheap.

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    1. Agree entirely Rachel, we should all pay a proper price for food and the supermarkets as well to the farmers, there is such a lot to be put right, whether it be produce that is slightly 'not perfect' or foreign labour. And of course for the welfare of animals.

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  3. Some plastic companies are doing a better job of creating containers that do not last forever. We must do something, because the oceans are clogged with the stuff.

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    1. True, our dog poo plastic bags are degradable, I just think it needs innovation from the manufacturers, the Iceland (a supermarket) manufacturer was quite upbeat about producing biodegradable stuff.

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  4. With China no longer taking our plastic and The Blue Planet there is definitely an increased awareness and I've noticed a significant increase in the amount of recycling coming in via the Terracycle Brigades I sort for locally. Some green shoots appearing, but the waste chain needs to be tackled all the way through. Arilx

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  5. Signed a petition for crisp packets yesterday, billions made of course, the mountain of waste is enormous of course. Funnily enough as I was digging in the garden yesterday came up with three pieces of very corroded iron, probably from the old forge across the road. To think in the 'olden days' they hardly had any rubbish and what was there was just chucked on the garden!

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  6. I read someplace that we don't throw anything away---we just move it to a different place. That is certainly true, and all the junk that ends up in the oceans is proof of that.

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  7. Suppose the answer lies in what we buy and demanding reusable/degradable packaging.

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