Plastic reduction

[Danp]

I was given some Smarties in paper packaging yesterday

 

https://www.nestle.com/media/news/smarties-first-global-confectionery-brand-recyclable-paper-packaging

[mavhc]

Last time I had smarties they were in a cardboard tube, what happened in the intervening 20 years?

[6Foot2]

Last time I had smarties they were in a cardboard tube, what happened in the intervening 20 years?

 

Those tubes came with plastic lids:

 

[Katy]

Went to Sainsburys yesterday (usually go to Aldi but we ran out of things like Vimto that Aldi don't sell and I didn't want to make 2 trips), and discovered the toilet paper I get if I'm in Sainsburys is now in paper packaging (the pack of 9 rolls of recycled), got me thinking that while perhaps you might want plastic in some cases (if you keep them on the floor where it's likely to get damp), why can't the majority of things in plastic packets be swapped out for paper?

[mavhc]

Paper is heavier, not as strong, doesn't bend as easily, and isn't transparent. The lack of places to recycle the very thin type plastics is a problem though.

[jmak]

Indeed. The inventor of the plastic bag had the best intentions - he saw how much waste there was with people using paper bags once and then throwing them away.

 

Not convinced about Morrisons moving back (see posts further up this thread). Not much use if you get the bus in the rain. Fine for car drivers, but why don't they bring their own? And not likely to be reused very much.

[mavhc]

The reusable bags I've got appear to be made from some sort of paper, not sure what, but it seems like paper when it finally tears, but with a plastic handle, lasted many years

[Katy]

Indeed. The inventor of the plastic bag had the best intentions - he saw how much waste there was with people using paper bags once and then throwing them away.

 

Not convinced about Morrisons moving back (see posts further up this thread). Not much use if you get the bus in the rain. Fine for car drivers, but why don't they bring their own? And not likely to be reused very much.

 

Paper is probably not the best replacement for reusable carrier bags but my point was more the single use stuff eg the plastic wrapper on the pack of toilet paper, that kinda thing where it’s torn open and binned/recycled whatever the material.

[MrEprise]

I vaguely remember when my Parents bought Andrex toilet paper back in the 1980s that it came in a paper-like wrapper, and then by the 90s they seemed to take a backward step in replacing it with plastic. I'm not sure why they bothered (other than it was probably cheaper.)

[Andrew_C]

Easy answer - buy from "Who Gives A Cr**" Supposedly recycled, (eewww) paper wrapped, and delivered. We got a box last year just as the TP flap started. Could have made a killing...

[mavhc]

If it's cheaper then they're not paying the externalities, force them to pay for cleaning up the pollution caused in the creation and destruction of the materials and they'll pick the one that's actually cheapest for the planet as a whole

[Arthur]

[FN-GM]

I ate my lunch today with wooden chopsticks. It was a welcome change from the plastic ones. I preferred them as they were much lighter. However, they were disposable. That was a letdown.

 

The supermarket now offer paper bags. However they are 5c more expensive than the plastic "bag for life".

[Arthur]

 

[Arthur]

Shoppers’ Covid fear sees rise in single-use plastic

 

Shoppers’ fears about catching Covid-19 could undo years of campaigning against single-use plastic.

 

Supermarkets are seeing the rise of single-use plastic bags, particularly in the fresh produce sections, says plastic waste collection company Divert.co.uk.

 

Tesco committed to removing one billion pieces of plastic from its stores by the end of 2020, while Asda introduced its first sustainable packaging-free section in their Leeds store in January last year.

 

Almost all of the UK’s major food retailers are signed up to the UK Plastics Pact, launched in 2018, which aims to eliminate single-use plastics and increase the use of recyclable or compostable packaging. Consumer behaviour has, largely, followed suit.

 

The pandemic, however, has halted many of these waste reduction schemes in their tracks, as customers are increasingly returning to plastic bags for their produce.

[6Foot2]

NOTE: Not a political post: No political replies are expected, nor are they invited.

 

 

1.8 million kilograms of the UK's plastic waste is exported to other countries every single day. What would it look like if that exact amount was dumped on Downing Street?

[6Foot2]

Link: Plastic Tracker | The Ocean Cleanup

 

 

The Plastic Tracker is an educative tool to illustrate the fate of floating plastic 20 years from now, should you lose it today at your location or anywhere else in the world. Where will it go? How probable is it that it will reach the ocean? This tool will give you a possible answer to these questions and show you how plastic can travel very far from its starting point.

 

[Arthur]

[FN-GM]

The Eos hotel (Casino Hotel) in Adelaide uses bamboo instead of plastic for the room key cards.

 

[mavhc]

https://www.terracycle.com/en-GB/brigades recycle pretty much anything

[Protec]

I think we would benefit from reusable glass milk bottles and a milk man who delivers milk to your door... oh wait...

[mikeprice]

The problem with some of these things is that I don;t use up enough of them - so they would end up having to be stored until a container is full.

 

e.g. I use a Gillette blade thingy for my fancy multibladed gillette thingy about once every few months - keeping/storing them needs some thought

 

I had a similar problem at my last house. We had a little bag for battery recycling - but I used so few batteries that it always took ages to find the damn bag when I needed it - it just got pushed to the back of a shelf over the months!

 

however - small things like that may become possible once we have some extra space - a new shed would do that!!

[6Foot2]

While not plastic, I think the topic is close enough to be included here:

 

Link: https://twitter.com/RoyalMailHelp/status/1418192937398280193 [Royal Mail Help Text Reply To A Query]

 

[jmak]

While not plastic, I think the topic is close enough to be included here:

 

Link: https://twitter.com/RoyalMailHelp/status/1418192937398280193 [Royal Mail Help Text Reply To A Query]

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]62668[/ATTACH]

That's cool.

 

As a teenager I worked in the village shop and post office. The post woman (also post mistress and shop keeper for the whole time I lived there) had a massive elastic band ball in her delivery bag which she said just created itself from loose bands. I always thought there was a PhD in working out how that happened...

[mikeprice]

While not plastic, I think the topic is close enough to be included here:

 

Link: https://twitter.com/RoyalMailHelp/status/1418192937398280193 [Royal Mail Help Text Reply To A Query]

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]62668[/ATTACH]

 

Cool thing to know - thanks