- My Mum was telling me about a Sainsburys product which really annoyed her. Their Tomato and Mascapone pasta sauce used to come in a glass jar with a lid. It now comes in a really irritating plastic pouch. She wrote to complain about it. I had the same sauce with her and decided to do the same. Here's my email if you would like to copy and paste it and use it for any 'please change your plastic packaging' emails you want to send.
Dear Sainsburys,I am delighted to hear that you are finally starting to address the vast iceberg that is your excessive plastic use. Well done! It was a relief to hear it! However, I would like to address one particular product which you have changed over the last few years. Your Tomato and Mascapone Pasta saucu used to come in a glass jar with a metal lid. It was extremely easy to use and clean and recycle. However, for some inexplicable reason, you have changed this so it now comes in an extremely irritating, not easy to clean and recycle plastic pouch. Not only is it extremely difficult to get the pasta sauce out in the first place (I loathe cutting into these pouches), it is really hard to get ALL the dregs of the sauce out and then clean it- I get sauce EVERYWHERE when I try to get all of it out- sauce goes all the way up the spoon. When it was in a glass jar, I just had to swill a bit of hot water in the jar with the lid on and it was easy to add to the saucepan and then wash out. In addition, it is not recyclable where I live (and then it will eventually end up as microplastics). Can I suggest that you revert to the original, very satisfactory packaging please? In the meantime, I am buying jars of it from Aldi when I can get there as theirs still comes in glass jars.
While I am writing, can I please make another suggestion regarding plastic reduction. Your adundant multipacks of crisps all come in massive plastic bags. Why not make a start with your own brands by making the OUTSIDE part of your multipacks out of recycled paper. This would make a huge reduction in plastic. This could also be applied to any chocolate biscuit multipacks too.
With all good wishes,Kerenza
- I got this next bit from SOMEWHERE, can't remember where! Please let me know if was you! "SWAPPING a single-use item for another single-use item is not the answer. We need to make a decision to try and find alternative ways of avoiding those single use items. Every time we say yes to another plastic item, we are part of the problem. Can we be sure that the item will get to a recycling plant? Where is it? Here in England or half-way across the planet. We need to slow down our consumption of single-use plastic. Use our voices and go to the companies. Ask them to use their wealth to change their packaging. Sticking everything in the recycling is not going to do anything else."
- My big fail last week was an Marks and Spencer shop. I ordered a jumper for my Dad for his birthday from M and S. Rather than get my free postage, I thought if I got it sent to store, then it wouldn't come in a plastic package. Alas, when I got there to pick it up, it was in 2 plastic packets!! AHEGHGHGH!! (Cue next week's email to M&S about this). I was, unfortunately, extremely hungry when I went into the store and I really strongly got the urge to eat antipasti like olives, sundried tomatoes and sweet peppers stuffed with cream cheese (I know, I know- first world problems). I stupidly gave into this urge and ended up buying them- all 3 came in plastic tubs with plastic lids. I also ended up buying 2 bags of crisps (and also some chicken which came in a foil tray with cardboard lid- the only one I could find with minimal plastic. I felt really guilty as soon as I came out of there.
- I performed at the Cadogan Hall on Monday night for the Indonesian Embassy to celebrate 70 years of Diplomatic relations between the UK and Indonesia. The Embassy provided us all with a delicious Indonesian meal...but everyone of the 100+ performers' meals came in a large (and I mean a 12" by 12") plastic box. Plastic cutlery was provided in a pouch and plastic bottles of water. I was dismayed. Worse still, there were no recycling facilities in the changing rooms and I saw a bin full of them when other people were eating. Someone picked mine up to put it in the bin but I ran over and said that I couldn't bear it going in the bin and I was going to take it home to recycle (I said this in a loud voice hoping others might do likewise...to no avail). I put it in my bike pannier. At the end of the evening, I went round the changing room and gathered ALL the plastic bottles which had been discarded - there were 16...mostly still full of water and I put them in my bike pannier to carry them across London and home on the train to Essex. They are still in my front room- I will be emptying them onto the garden and then recycling. Big events are ALWAYS a problem in terms of waste. This is why I strongly dislike festivals, concerts and big sporting events because of the sight and knowledge of overflowing bins full of resources that could have been recycled if only everyone made an effort to take home their waste. It makes me feel physically sick. If I, a non-driver who is always carrying a million things around, can do it, so can anyone. It makes me glad to hear that hopefully Glastonbury festival is making a huge effort with plastic waste this year.
- Shared tips for eco-loo roll with a work colleague who is trying to make more changes. She made me happy to hear that last Summer, they rigged up a hosepipe to a paddling pool from their bathroom to use all shower water to water their garden when we had that super hot Summer!
- Picked up a few discarded bottles and newspapers from train seats to recycle. Used the newspaper in my new compost bin to stop it getting so skanky!
- Picked up a full 1 litre soda bottle which was half full of soda which was just standing in the middle of the traffic island. Managed to carry it whilst cycling. Carried it and emptied the soda over a bush and then carried the bottle to the recycling at the station. I now see rubbish as my problem. Not something to tut over and expect it to be cleared up but, where I can, pick up what I can and ensure it gets to the recycling facilities.
- Forgot my Stainless steel bottle for the Indonesian gig on Monday so found a half-drunk glass bottle of Schloer at work and took that with me to put water in.
- Went to the Chinese again last night and took 3 plastic containers and an old carrier bag to put the food in.
- Lidl today- put rolls from the bakery counter in an old paper bread bag from last week. Also selected the only cheese in non-plastic- a French Brie plus limes.
- Been using my glass bottles from the Milk and More apple juice I get each week to keep mint cuttings in to grow roots. Sharing these plants with my friends so they don't have to buy mint plants in plastic.
- I've signed up for #Slowfashionseason. No new clothes for 3 months- only second hand, mended, swapped... See https://www.collaction.org/projects/slow-fashion-summer-2019/129/details
And on the web...
- Protect our bees!
https://actions.sumofus.org/a/save-the-bees-ban-toxic-pesticide-sulfoxaflor-from-europe-s-fields/
Love this idea from @aldiuk for freezing your Basil plant...
Vix has long extolled the virtues of the Lush Shampoo bars which she did after I bemoaned how much I disliked the Refill shampoo I had bought from my Zerowaste shop. This article is extolling the virtues of them!
The story of Stuff has issued a new video on Water! Worth a watch!
Great TED talk from @Kittiekipper
- Susie has shared a brilliant idea for your discarded chive flowers! Apparently, if you put them in white wine vinegar it makes a lovely salad dressing!!
- Why are BP trying to dig for oil
BP wants to ship an oil rig out to the North Sea to drill for up to 30 million barrels of oil and I am now occupying it - to shut down BP's business as usual.
At their AGM this year, BP agreed with its investors to show how the company is "aligned" with the Paris Climate Agreement - the treaty tackling climate change. So drilling for oil, when we already have more than we can afford to burn, is a pretty odd thing to do - but that's BP in a nutshell.
They say one thing and do another. Just take a look at their social media channels - it's all wind turbines and rolling hills (they even have a video of a dog running through a field with wind turbines in the background - it makes no sense). Where are the images of oil spills and carbon billowing into the earth's atmosphere?
Let's call them out publicly on their lies and green washing. Hit the button, comment on BP's social media posts and get them to tell the truth - they're tipping us over the edge into climate breakdown.
At their AGM this year, BP agreed with its investors to show how the company is "aligned" with the Paris Climate Agreement - the treaty tackling climate change. So drilling for oil, when we already have more than we can afford to burn, is a pretty odd thing to do - but that's BP in a nutshell.
They say one thing and do another. Just take a look at their social media channels - it's all wind turbines and rolling hills (they even have a video of a dog running through a field with wind turbines in the background - it makes no sense). Where are the images of oil spills and carbon billowing into the earth's atmosphere?
Let's call them out publicly on their lies and green washing. Hit the button, comment on BP's social media posts and get them to tell the truth - they're tipping us over the edge into climate breakdown.
| Stop BP's lies on Facebook |
| Stop BP's lies on Twitter |
- Apparently, Sainsbury's are ditching plastic bags in their bakery and fruit and veg section for loose items - see here. Instead, there will be paper bags for Bakery and you must bring your own for the veg and fruit or buy a reusable one. Ostensibly, they are committed to reducing plastic: plastic lids from cream pots and plastic trays from carrots and tomatoes will be considered too. This is great news and progress BUT, unless they back it up by removing the plastic packaging that the majority of the fruit and veg comes in, then there's STILL a long, long way to go. And the cheese wrapping, AND the ready meals, AND the pouches of cat food, AND the trays and packets of sauces. I might still write to them. Will you too?
https://www.express.co.uk/finance/city/1138663/sainsburys-news-recycle-plastic-vending-machines-lincoln
- I looked at the Recycle Now website to find out more about what the big supermarkets will recycle in terms of plastic packaging that I can't do in my home recycling, at the bigger Tescos, Sainsbury's, Waitrose, Coop, Morrisons: Here's what I found:
WHICH TYPES OF PLASTIC FILM CAN BE RECYCLED?
The following different types of plastic films are accepted at carrier bag collection points.
| Yes please | No thanks | |
|---|---|---|
| All plastic bags, except biodegradable or compostable bags | Any non-Polyethylene film (e.g. PP, PVC, others) | |
| Bread bags | Cling film | |
| Breakfast cereal liners | Food and drink pouches | |
| Shrink wrap & ring joiners from multipacks of water, cans etc | Wrappers from bakeries, e.g. bags with lots of small holes in them | |
| Frozen food bags, e.g. bags for frozen vegetable, chips, etc | Film lids from trays and pots, e.g. yoghurt pots | |
| Dry cleaning bags/bags covering new clothing | Any dirty bags or film, for example containing food | |
| Magazine and newspaper wrappers | Crisp packets | |
| Bags for fruit and vegetables | Compostable bags | |
| Bubble wrap | Any film claiming to be biodegradable | |
| Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) - resin ID code 4 | Pre-prepared salad bags |
- Aldi has announced Its new compostable bags are made of a bio-degradable material & designed to be 100% domestically compostable within 1 year. Paper bags w Aldi has pledged to cut down on its plastic packaging by 25% by the end of 2023
@2minutebeachclean shared a sneak preview of this Anti-plastic book:
What has been going on with you eco-wise this week?
xx
I totally agree with you about not swapping one single use item for another single use item, simple swapping to a paper bag isn't the answer, it has to be part of us choosing to reduce the amount of single use things in our lives.
ReplyDeleteThis month has fizzled out for me in terms of energy but our newly emptied compost bin is being used on a regular basis and i'm being careful with the mix. I also love the new waterbutt, although after all the rain this month we may need a second!
I hope you get a response to your email about the change to plastic packaging! :) I like that every big event I've been to here has recycling bins right next to the regular bins - but we are usually at family friendly events in local parks where those bins are permanent fixtures anyway, haha!
ReplyDeleteHope that you have a lovely weekend ahead of you :)
Away From Blue
At German festivals (and Christmas markets) ALL bottles, plastic cups, plates, etc. have a deposit on them. Some people still leave theirs lying around, of course, but most take them back to get their money back. And for those that don't other people will pick them up and return them for extra money ;-)
ReplyDeleteThis is not my achievement, but Jan bought a reusable lunch container at the weekend and is slowly taking it to all the places he gets lunch from in Zurich to see if they will fill it for them. He will then make an internal document for the employee portal informing others of which places will put food in containers you bring from home.
Well done!!!! You are really amazing and inspirational.
ReplyDeleteSome of the plastic packaging is important to keep fruits fresh and easy to transport. I can't imagine strawberries can be transported as easy as potatoes. But, on the other side, there is no point in having potatoes in bags of plastic. While I don't think is feasible to avoid all single-use plastics, much of it is not necessary.
I don't agree with new fashion not being sustainable. I bought some new T-shirts and two wool scarfs from Scotland, that I plan to wear for a long time. For me, buying something that I plan to wear (unless damaged or stained) is the vital part of slow fashion. I also think long before making a purchase: how much will I wear it, how much I like it, and so on.
There are unfortunately a lot of issues around paper bags too and their production. I made bags from old net curtains for my loose veg and fruit. This week I've been much more vigilant about switching off the car engine at traffic lights etc. Arilx
ReplyDeleteReally struggling between the need to manage our family budget and the desire to do my bit for the environment and it is not easy :-(
ReplyDeleteThis week I tried to feed my cats tinned cat food. I tried a while ago and they refused to eat it, several times. I thought I'd try again, but they refused it again. I have found a Terracycle place locally that accept pet food pouches so I've been collecting them all to take there. It's not ideal but at least they'll be recycled into benches and such.
ReplyDeleteA win though was Convincing Andy to spend £160 on toilet paper - recycled, no plastic packaging, and 50% profits go to non-profits who build toilets and tackle sanitation issues.
And I found some bamboo biodegradable wet wipes to take to Latitude. I'd been pondering what to do and a post by Vix prompted me to search for some - I didn't know they existed, I was so pleased to hear of their existence! I know what you mean about rubbish at festivals. Latitude provide a number of different recycling bins, and most people use the correct ones. They offer reusable cups, water filling stations too. A lot of vendors serve food in cardboard containers rather than plastic. I'd take my own container but washing up would be an issue. I'm interested to see if there are any new changes this year after Glastonbury's efforts.
Keep up the good work, you're an inspiration!
xx
I'm always so impressed by your efforts in these posts and it's great that you are inspiring others too :)
ReplyDelete