Plastic not Fantastic!
I know this is a hot topic at the moment, and this morning I found myself helpless as a consumer. My Tesco shopping arrived which I'd ordered online. I had selected the option to have the shopping 'delivered without bags'. My shopping then promptly arrived at the time requested. As I emptied the baskets out I was met with one paper bag with some loose veg in, a few loose items like cling film etc and the rest of the shopping in a total of...38 carrier bags! I kid you not, 38! What would 'delivered with bags' look like? Individually wrapped grapes? Every banana in a separate bag? Actually that wouldn't have been much worse as the loose bananas came in a thin plastic bag...inside a larger carrier bag, presumably incase they escaped the inner thinner bag.
As a consumer ( I love using that term when I'm on my soap box) I had done my bit and was more than happy to have my shopping delivered to my kitchen floor as if tipped out of the back of a rear loading grit truck, but Tescos decided they would override my decision/want to do the right thing (pause to polish and straighten halo) because it was easier for them. Arghhh! Unacceptable!
(My baby's been kicking the whole time I've been typing this, so I think it may be born already mad on this subject!)
I always hate it when people say that 'it's not always easy to do the right thing' and sometimes it is true (see next paragraph), but when you are trying, and it is a small act on the scheme of things, don't stop me!
In the borough we used to live in, the council recycling system did work against you a bit with only small recycling boxes available to use. Each house down our road used to have three or four of them kind up outside the house each week and they would still be overflowing (The bloomin' foxes were alway grateful for the 'un-rinsed containers' buffet). Where I live now, I did think was going to be a bit better on this front as we have wheely bins. The collection is fortnightly so we, at our own cost of course, bought a second wheely bin. But the council won't collect both bins. If I fill a cardboard box and put it by the side of the bin, they'll take it, but not a second bin! That doesn't make any sense! I don't even mind if it incurs an additional cost. But what am I then supposed to do with an entire wheely bin full of recycling each week? I'll tell you what we end up doing, a trip to the recycling centre on a Saturday morning with a trailer full of paper, glass and mostly...here is comes...PLASTIC!
N.B. I did use the term 'we' when I said about going to the recycling centre, but it's my husband that goes. I totally play the pregnancy card! "Oh honey I would go but I'm right in the middle of growing the next generation!"
I know I'm not alone in wanting this to change, but our hands are tied on some things and that just makes me mad.
Here's what needs to go down..
The councils need to take all the recycling we can throw their way.
The supermarkets need to....well just STOP IT! Stop wrapping my food up in layers of plastic like it's trying to lose weight. Stop delivering my food in bags when I've specifically asked you not to and stop treating the consumer like an idiot who doesn't know what they want!
And breathe...Ok, I feel better now. I don't want this blog page to be about ranting, claiming the world sucks and talking about how awful my children are, because it isn't the case. But I feel on this subject, it's time to stop just thinking it and it's time to say it....loud!
(Ironically this is the polar opposite to how I feel generally about ranting on social media! #pausebeforeyoupost)