Practically Reducing Waste

Here in the UK our government is trying to get our supermarkets to reduce their packaging. This week it was anounced that the general public in the UK were recycling three times as much packaging and waste as last year. This of course is brilliant, but still the supermarkets lag behind! What I and many others do is to return any eccess packaging back to the supermarkets, they do not like it, but they have a duty to accept it. One of the biggest problems is what to do with all the plastic? Only about 4% of it is recycled here in the UK, the rest goes into landfill. This cannot be right, so what they are trying to do in the UK is to go back to the 1950s and use more paper and cardboard for packaging! Spencer.

What a load of rubbish!

Exactly!!!!! Spencer.

The debate over excess packaging has become quite lopsided toward arguing against excess packaging, with very little heard about the benefits of packaging. Packaging prevents waste by ensuring that products arrive intact and not contaminated. Packaging is designed by the people who have a choice; package the product adequately or replace/clean up/repair the product that don't make it to the consumer. There may be room for improvement, but we have to approach the problem with the thought that it may be ok already. If we attempt to reduce "excess packaging" without considering the detrimental effects of reduced product protection, we could end up creating more waste than we save.

It's all about balance - why does packaging HAVE to be disposable?

Henry Ford got his windscreens for the Model T delivered in crates which went on to become the floor of the car!

This type of thinking has been rejected big time for many years - partly due to companies competing solely on price, and waste being an acceptable part of that philosophy. Now that laws are being introduced, there will be a resurrection of these ideas. Some of the supermarkets in the UK now use re-usable plastic containers for deliveries, rather than cardboard boxes to reduce their impact, but this is minimal, as shrinkwrap is still (and even increasingly) used - often to excess.

GM1964,

Excellent point! I have seen styrofoam peanuts replaced by many suppliers with water soluble peanuts and paper padding. There is certainly room for some innovative thinking on reusable shipping containers.

The waste cann't be avoided when the people's desire for wealth always is out of abstention.