Plastics? Who's to blame?

[Stagger]

Supermarket in my eyes.

Our milkman recycles his bottles.

My dad as a green grocer used Brown paper bags for fruit and veg.

Old apple box's for delivery.

The shop that took his lively hood is now wrecking the planet.

[Daletownrunner]

Definitely supermarkets, they need to stop wrapping items in a combination of hard plastic/ cardboard/ cellophane i.e. cakes, definitely worse than the average carrier bag that you could spit through and my current favourite, two boiled eggs in a plastic box eggs come in their own wrapper. The problem is the large supermarkets don’t give a toss and it’s becoming increasingly harder to find smaller decent independent shops.

[bigfella]

I agree, also think strong legislation is required as the average person doesn't really give a toss either.

[Daletownrunner]

I agree, also think strong legislation is required as the average person doesn't really give a toss either.

You’re right there bigfella, I forgot to mention McDs/ KFC etc, the amount of waste produced by those guys must be phenomenal judging by the amount that I see jettisoned onto the roads on the lanes where I run by people who like you say don’t give a toss it’s heartbreaking

[benshep]

it's not supermarkets. it's society - the consumer, all of us! retail and manufacturing industry provide what the consumer demands with their spending power and habit. sldo bear in mind plastic itself is not evil - the problem is what we as society do with it. how we consume and discard. the way to tackle it is a very complex social and economic issue. there need to be priorities such as reducing use of difficult-to-recycle plastics; designing it out of the supply chain; in some cases bans on single-use plastics such as stirrers and cotton buds are justified.

every single person needs to take responsibility for their own behaviours.

to say supermarkets are 'to blame' is naive and arrogant, in my view.

and don't forget that plastic pollution is only one of many many environmental and societal issues we should be concerned with, and not necessarily THE priority.

[DrPatrickBarry]

Everybody!

I remember I got involved in a discussion about dustbin collection schedules in the comments section of the Guardian, People were ranting about byweekly collections. I mentioned that I have no issue with our half size general rubish bin being collected every two weeks, my issue was the the paper and tins/platics bin not being collected often enough. Well the amount of down votes I got!!!

There are a lot of lazy bastards out there, amoung consumers, retailers and manufacturers.

[Daletownrunner]

it's not supermarkets. it's society - the consumer, all of us! retail and manufacturing industry provide what the consumer demands with their spending power and habit. sldo bear in mind plastic itself is not evil - the problem is what we as society do with it. how we consume and discard. the way to tackle it is a very complex social and economic issue. there need to be priorities such as reducing use of difficult-to-recycle plastics; designing it out of the supply chain; in some cases bans on single-use plastics such as stirrers and cotton buds are justified.

every single person needs to take responsibility for their own behaviours.

to say supermarkets are 'to blame' is naive and arrogant, in my view.

and don't forget that plastic pollution is only one of many many environmental and societal issues we should be concerned with, and not necessarily THE priority.

To blame supermarkets isn’t either naive of arrogant, as a consumer I want to buy something say a cake, I can’t change the way the supermarket decides to package my cake, I’d happily buy my cake wrapped in recyclable paper packaging but they don’t offer it, and believe me I have emailed supermarket head offices to voice my concern over their overuse of packaging for single items, it could be argued that I don’t need to buy the cake and could make it myself but again the flour, eggs, butter etc etc all come in multiple packaging.
The consumer doesn’t have an influence upon what packaging the manufacturers choose to use, look at bars of chocolate, using a KitKat as an example, I don’t eat many but I do like one they were better when they came in foil and paper,but for some reason (it will be cost based) the manufacturer decided to encase them in plastic, as a consumer I can only complain, I can’t change it, I don’t buy as many KitKats but I’ve sure that is of no consequence as they’ve saved a lump of cash.

[Daletownrunner]

Everybody!

I remember I got involved in a discussion about dustbin collection schedules in the comments section of the Guardian, People were ranting about byweekly collections. I mentioned that I have no issue with our half size general rubish bin being collected every two weeks, my issue was the the paper and tins/platics bin not being collected often enough. Well the amount of down votes I got!!!

There are a lot of lazy bastards out there, amoung consumers, retailers and manufacturers.

We have a half size bin collection every week and a full size recycling bin collection every two, I’m with you, I’d rather the other way around which would make people think a bit harder and perhaps increase recycling rates although the local council does have a major issue with some folk (again those that don’t give a toss) filling their recycling bins with food waste etc, etc.

[benshep]

Daletownrunner, supermarkets do not decide on the packaging. manufacturers and the supply chain decide on the packaging based on the economics of producing, supplying and selling products to consumers. if you want to buy food without packaging YOU CAN DO SO. there are plenty of shops, grocers, wholesalers who sell without packaging. however, you might just find that you miss the convenience of shopping in a supermarket. you might also find that your food isn't pre-prepared for you. and that it doesn't last as long. and that you end up with more food waste at home as a consequence.

to take all the benefits of modern technology and economic systems (including packaging, convenience, longer shelf life, insanely cheap prices etc.) but take none of the responsibility for the cost of your choices (packaging waste, food miles, ecological cost of mass food production, etc.) is naive and arrogant.

i think issues around waste, food watse, packaging waste and plastic are all valid issues BUT THEY GET OVERSIMPLIFIED in the media and in the everyday discourse. better to try and understand the complexity of the systems that we all benefit from in the modern world and not look for scapegoats such as supermarkets. by the way, if it costs less to wrap your kitkat the new way then it's not the supermarket or the manufacturer making the saving IT'S THE CONSUMER. that's how the economy works.

[Daletownrunner]

Daletownrunner, supermarkets do not decide on the packaging. manufacturers and the supply chain decide on the packaging based on the economics of producing, supplying and selling products to consumers. if you want to buy food without packaging YOU CAN DO SO. there are plenty of shops, grocers, wholesalers who sell without packaging. however, you might just find that you miss the convenience of shopping in a supermarket. you might also find that your food isn't pre-prepared for you. and that it doesn't last as long. and that you end up with more food waste at home as a consequence.

to take all the benefits of modern technology and economic systems (including packaging, convenience, longer shelf life, insanely cheap prices etc.) but take none of the responsibility for the cost of your choices (packaging waste, food miles, ecological cost of mass food production, etc.) is naive and arrogant.

i think issues around waste, food watse, packaging waste and plastic are all valid issues BUT THEY GET OVERSIMPLIFIED in the media and in the everyday discourse. better to try and understand the complexity of the systems that we all benefit from in the modern world and not look for scapegoats such as supermarkets. by the way, if it costs less to wrap your kitkat the new way then it's not the supermarket or the manufacturer making the saving IT'S THE CONSUMER. that's how the economy works.

Supermarkets obviously do decide on the packaging choice for their own brand products, take any average supermarkets finest/ superior or whatever they decide to call it range, it is always over packaged because the consumer expects it to look nicer, yes we’re responsible for that as we want to feel that get more for our money but the supermarkets also drive this to make more profit selling their supposed superior product.
I’ve sat here and racked my brains and quite honestly I don’t think that there is an independent greengrocer left in the town where I work as Tesco has swallowed the lot and you are right benshep that’s down to the quest as consumers for the easy/ cheap option.