More biodegradable packaging introduced
September 21, 2006 at 4:28 am
Sainsbury’s is the latest firm to offer biodegradable packaging to its customers: 500 of its products will now be available in compostable packaging. Around 50 per cent of household waste is from purchases made at convenience stores and supermarkets, and 25 per cent of all rubbish put out by households is retail packaging – it’s time for
companies to follow Sainsbury’s lead and take action.
Sainsbury’s announcement follows the move to go greener by other retail companies – this month Ikea announced it would be offering biodegradable shopping bags, and Tesco has just introduced a reward system for re-using carrier bags. Tesco customers are able to collect extra clubcard points by bringing old bags back into the store.
Sainsbury’s is unusual in its decision however; and environmental activist organisation Friends of the Earth are calling for other firms to follow suit with the introduction of biodegradable product packaging. But it must be noted that Sainsbury’s may look deceivingly green– these are just 500 product lines out of the 40 000 sold in shops.
Friends of the Earth are calling for further government action on biodegradable packaging. A spokesperson said: “The Government must ensure that the goods that companies produce are either re-usable, recyclable or compostable. But instead the Government is intent on building more unnecessary, unpopular and polluting incinerators that rely on burning non-recyclable waste.”
But Defra, the Government Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture says: “We are currently trying to assess the most environmentally-sound approach to addressing the problem of plastic bag usage. A number of options have been considered, including the possibility of a tax on plastic bags and the potential of biodegradable bags. However for the time being Defra is focusing on encouraging the reuse and recycling of plastic bags as the most viable means of tackling the issue.”
Sainsbury’s decision to produce biodegradable packaging is a step in the right direction, but more companies will need to copy their initiative – and on a bigger scale – for it to have any real impact for the environment.
What do you think? Would you choose to buy a product if its packaging was biodegradable?
Are refuse collection charges and penalties the answer to better recycling?
September 6, 2006 at 9:14 am
Councils nationwide are under pressure to meet tough recycling targets – yet just 18% of UK waste is recycled, missing the government’s goal to stop a third of our rubbish going to landfill by 2015. In order to meet their quota, councils are cracking down on householders to comply with recycling measures. Penalty systems to punish those who fail to meet recycling measures have been introduced. South Norfolk Council is just one example – they have introduced a ‘red-card’ system whereby residents are reprimanded for mis-sorting their rubbish.
However, householders are reacting by complaining that schemes are too complicated and illogical. For example, in Norfolk four different councils operate four different schemes for residents around Norwich. Each system has a slightly different requirement: some recycle plastic, others don’t; some will refuse to take glass, others will. In addition the colours of the bins vary – whereas Broadland District Council supplies a grey bin for recycling, Great Yarmouth Borough Council provides a green bin.
Councils are at a loss as how to enforce recycling if rules are ignored. In a recent Daily Mail article (August 21) it was reported that outraged householders tipped their refuse in the street in protest at their local recycling system and in the only case to go to court so far, Donna Challice, a householder in Exeter, was acquitted in July for ‘contaminating’ her bin. Yet, according to The Environment Agency, nine out of ten people would recycle more if it were made easier.
It has been suggested that charging residents for refuse collection is the answer. In early August, Environment Minister Ben Bradshaw suggested the UK should consider a ‘polluter pays’ policy. And last week (August 27), a new report from a UK think tank, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), recommended the trialling of ‘microchips’ in bins – to monitor the weight of rubbish.
Waste charge has been successfully employed elsewhere. In January 2005, Dublin City Council introduced a new pay by use and volume system for household waste collection services. Householders pay up to 340 Euros a year to have their wheelie bin taken out every week. In a scheme similar to the Irish plastic bag tax, householders are given financial incentive to aid recycling.
However, the implementation of such a system could prove expensive and will take time to be passed by government. It is certainly no short-term solution. But Britain has to match up to the standards set in the EU – householders in Germany, Holland and Austria recycle at least half their waste. If the general public continue to refuse to comply with the schemes of local councils, penalties might be the only solution.
What do you think? Is it time to give the red-card to lazy recyclers?
Tesco Ads Result in Re-using Plastic Bags
August 22, 2006 at 5:01 am
Tesco has announced that its recent celebrity television advertisements aimed at reducing plastic bag consumption have been an unmitigated success. The adverts first aired on the 15th August, and urge shoppers to re-use old bags or to buy a ‘bag for life’. After only three days, Tesco claimed that shoppers had used one million bags less than they would normally expect.
For a while now the supermarket giant has been making a big effort to go green, but have met with criticism. In January 2004 Tesco introduced biodegradable carrier bags. These bags begin to degrade after two months, and after a year and a half, should have totally decomposed.
However, concerns were raised by recycling companies who claimed that if bags that had already begun to degrade entered their recycling process, the quality of recycled plastic would be compromised. The Liberal Democrats also questioned the overall effectiveness of this initiative, saying that the biodegradable bags would give off harmful greenhouse gases while they broke down.
A national campaign led last year by WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) that pressured shoppers to re-use plastic bags, has also recently revealed very limited success.
With 17.5 billion new plastic bags being used every year by UK supermarket shoppers, a successful result is well overdue. For more information on how to make your trip to the supermarket more eco-friendly, see our page on how to Reduce, Re-use and Recycle.
Don’t Bin It – Swap It
July 24, 2006 at 6:01 am
Are you the sort of person who hoards old CDs and DVDs that you might never watch again? Is your bookcase overflowing with books that you have only read once but can’t bear to throw out? Have you got an item which you are sure might be a collectable but don’t collect yourself? Or maybe you just have a hefty piece of furniture that you need to get rid off but don’t have the facility to move it.
Well, a useful collection of websites have sprung up which could be the answer to all the above problems. They come in the form of online swap shops and are a great way to connect people who are looking for or getting rid of certain items and an even better way to reduce the amount of waste we throw out.
Readitswapit.co.uk is the place to go if you are a bookworm who ploughs through loads of books but don’t have the heart to throw all those well thumbed paperbacks into the bin. Why not pass stories you have enjoyed onto other avid readers?
The site was started by a commuter who read a lot and his computer whiz friend and has quickly developed into a large network of readers swapping all types of books – 49842 books available to swap today! Its free to use, you just have to pay the postage to send your books.
If CDs, DVDs and video games is more your thing, then www.swopex.com is worth a browse. Swopex has been set up as an ‘entertainment trading community’ where people can swap CDs, DVDs and games they no longer want. When you send in an item you receive credits for it which you can then spend on other items listed on the site. It’s free to use once registered, you have to pay for postage and there is the opportunity to buy items if you prefer with a small fee charged for withdrawing credits.
For a more general range of items to swap, then check out iswap.co.uk
which is a swap shop for absolutely everything. It’s also free to use once you have registered. You can post anything from a car or motorbike to a musical intsrument or an item of clothing. You list your item and wait to see what people are willing to swap in return for it, or simply browse all the items listed and if you see something you would like, you can offer something of yours for it and hope you are successful.
Another two services which are great for getting rid of junk you no longer want or finding something for free that you really do need are ww.freecycle.org and www.free2collect.co.uk. The first was set up in 2003 in the USA to promote waste reduction and works on the philosophy that ‘one person’s trash is another’s treasure’. It now has groups set up Worldwide and works by people offering or requesting items within their local freecycle community. You have to register for your local group and in some groups the first email you send has to be offering an item. After this you can send emails for items you want and the rest of the group will receive your email and respond if they can help.
Free2collect is simpler to use as you can quickly list anything on the site that you are trying to get rid of which people can then browse and send an email if they are interested. It’s a great way of shifting furniture that you can’t manage to move yourself as the understanding is usually that the person will collect from you at a convenient time.
All of these sites are a great contributor to reducing waste and prove that although it may be rubbish to you, it might just be exactly what someone else is looking for or needs. These swap shop type sites are also a great way of bringing communities of like minded people together and linking up collectors with collectables. So next time you think of throwing out your junk with the rubbish, check out the demand for your item online first.
Recycling Push during World Cup
June 19, 2006 at 7:02 am
The World Cup will bring welcome profits for retailers with food and drink for match parties and BBQs and shiny new TV sets to enjoy the games on but this unfortunately brings with it an increase in rubbish. On the plus side though, most of this rubbish can be recycled and even Sven himself is encouraging fans to recycle those cans and bottles and extra packaging.
Research shows that during the World Cup:
– England fans will open 340 million cans and bottles (25% more than an average month)
– Scottish and Welsh fans will open another 70 million
– Hot weather could see another 740 million cans of soft drinks sold
– 180 million papers and newspapers covering and commenting on the events will be sold
– An increase in cardboard packaging will increase.
Local councils, football clubs, shops and community groups are all planning events to get the recycling message across during the World Cup and the England Football manager launched a campaign at the beginning of the month with Environment Secretary David Miliband which urged fans to recycle as much as possible. At the launch of the Big Recycle campaign, Ericksson asked that everyone helped to make this ‘World Cup a winner for the team and environment by recycling all their extra cans, bottles and newspapers”.
So make sure you recycle as much as you can whilst enjoying the football at home.
Recycling Encouraged via Post System
May 24, 2006 at 12:18 pm
The UK’s major recycling site – recyclenow.com has joined forced with Royal Mail to produce the first ever cancellation mark showing the sites logo and web address.
The cancellation mark can be seen up by the stamp on your letters and is printed as the letter goes through the sorting machines to show the stamp has been used – or cancelled.
This is a huge effort to make people aware of the site and indeed encourage them to recycle at home and will hopefully have a great effect, as letters with the stamp on should fall through between 6 and 7 million letterboxes each day. The campaign has been running since the 8th May and will continue until 18th June so look out for the recycling stamp on your post.
Rubbish Needn’t be a Dirty Word!
May 19, 2006 at 12:55 pm
I’d love to take credit for this slogan but it does in fact belong to the creators of Junkk.com. Haven’t heard of them? Well listen up. If you are interested in novel new ways to conserve resources and be more environmentally friendly then this is definitely worth a look.
So what is the idea of Junkk.com? Well, do you ever empty a container, packet, box etc and think to yourself just as you are about to throw it in the bin “hmm, this is too nice to throw away really, what else could I use it for…?” I know I have done it before and hoarded items, sometimes reused, but often not. Here’s where Junkk.com comes in. You may have found the perfect use for that empty cereal box and want to share it with the world or you may be stumped at what to do with that funky chocolate container and need some inspiration.
Reusing is an important factor in reducing the amount of waste we throw out and conserving the earths resources. This site highlights the fact that so much effort is sometimes invested in making packaging look good so why not take advantage and continue enjoying the design and functionality by making a new use for that ‘waste’ item.
So, you can browse Junkk’s idea section to find out how to make a woggle out of a bottle top or a set of dumbbells out if a couple of empty malteser containers and you can submit your own creations too. There is also plenty of items on there with a reuse idea required so get if you are feeling creative about an empty bottle, jar or well designed packaging then have a browse and add your idea.
Inviting the Worms to Stay
May 3, 2006 at 9:39 am
How would you like the idea of nearly 2000 earthworms sharing your kitchen space?
Martin Bartos, Scotish Green Party member commented how his resident worms ‘really aren’t any bother’. He’s refering to his wormery – a simple and efficient way of converting kitchen waste into compost and liquid feed – all you need to do is throw your left over peelings and used coffee in and the worms do the work.
Nearly a third of our household waste is organic and so can be recycled in this way, so if everyone had a wormery at home or in the garden the amount of waste going to landfill would be dramatically reduced.
You may be thinking, is it complicated or pricey to set up a wormery at home but it really isn’t. There are commercial wormerys on the market, but you can just as easily make your own using cheap plastic storage boxes and a few extra items available from the DIY store as illustrated here.
This size wormery may be more suited to your garden or an outside space but if this is not available, there are smaller options which can sit on your windowsill and you can even improvise with something such as an old fishtank or small dustbin.
Green living is no longer reserved for hippies and duty bound Green Party members, everyone shold be environmentally aware. Living in a confined space within the city also shouldn’t mean that you opt out, you just have to improvise. Its not all about having your own energy sources or having land to grow your own vegetables, there are ways everyone can adapt.
Make a wormery, take your glass, tins and paper to the recyling bank or put out for collection and reuse household items where possible. Our recycling in the home factsheet will remind you of all the simple ways you can live a greener life.
New Green Store for Tesco
April 25, 2006 at 10:28 am
Supermarket giant Tesco is going seriously green with the announcement of plans for the world’s most environmentally friendly store.
The store is to be built in Norfolk and will be constructed from recycled wood, plastic and other materials. It is not just the exterior of the store that will be green as they plan to generate energy from solar panels, wind turbines and geothermal power and aims to half its energy consumption by 2010 (compared with the energy use in 2000)
This new store is a costly project at £100 million but an important investment in terms of reducing emissions and conserving energy supplies and reducing ever increasing energy costs. Tesco have also noted that they aim to reduce carbon emmissions from their large network of distribution vehicles and also invest in more recycling schemes for customers. For more information on Tesco’s environment policies check their website.
Hopefully with such a huge brand like Tesco pioneering this kind of environmentally friendly development, other corporations will follow in their footsteps and invest some of their profits in greener a future.
Furniture Recycling Scheme Wins Award
March 14, 2006 at 2:35 am
An East London furniture recycling project has won a prestigious award at the Liveable City Awards. Homestore, who provide struggling families with low cost furniture won first prize in the awards which recognise and reward outstanding achievements in sustainable development, in relation to environment, economy and social issues.
The manager of Homestore gratefully accepted the award stating ‘”It’s a great honour because it’s a prestigious award and reflects how as an organisation both social aims and the environment are at the heart of our work.”
If you would like to find out more about the project or live in East London would like to donate any household goods to Homestore, then see their website here.
