recycling.....

I remember coins bags from the bank used to be made of strong paper .

Good to hear that so many people feel exactly the same way as I do. Please don't get me wrong if these things are causing a problem something does need to changed but it seems we are being blamed for it all and are having to bear the monetary cost. We can only buy what is there for us to buy and in whatever way it is packaged, although like many others I buy things with as little or no packaging as I can. And as for micro beads, I'd never heard of them until a few months ago and now we're in the wrong again as it's in so many cosmetics etc. I didn't invent them or put them there.

I had the opposite vampirequeen in tescos. Unwrapped broccoli was cheaper than shrink wrapped one. But was almost hidden away from view....

Unfortunately we had to cancel our milkman delivery as we found the milk was going off far too quickly. My husband had noticed it for a while but as I don't use milk (and have no sense of smell) it was only when my son was here with his small children that he wouldn't give them it as he said it was off. We do recycle the plastic milk bottles though so hopefully that compensates. We've just been issued with blue bins here which will be far better for the amount of recycling we have to do.

I saw a man in Boots, pay for his goods and then took it out of the packaging and gave the packaging back to the cashier. Perhaps we all should do that?

Absolutely! Time for all packaging to be reassessed and my husband even contacted Sainsburys regarding this - no reply as yet!

There is a fortune awaiting some entrepreneur who can develop, make and market small cheap lightweight see-through mesh bags, washable, reusable and biodegradable, light enough and non-bulky enough to carry several around for spur-of-the-moment shopping. Wish I was young enough and brave enough to have a go.

Sorry, Widgeon3, what part of a banana do you eat? What on earth does it matter if that thick skin they all have is grubby?
One of my daughters has just this last weekend arranged for doorstep bottled milk deliveries and no further milk plastic containers from the supermarket. I feel that I do need to look into this.

Re local authorities, ours used to have a number of bins around the borough for tetrapaks. They have now cut these to only two locations in the borough, neither of which is convenient to me. The excuse for reducing the number of locations was that people were fly tipping.

By my own observation this did occur when the council did not collect often enough so the site became most untidy, thus encouraging fly tipping.

Local authorities must be held to account somehow, and smarten up their collective act.

Anyone seen children coming in straight from the street and demanding a ride in the trolley, their dirty shoes being wiped where I shall have to place my bananas etc, if I refuse a poly bag. Heads you lose and tails the same

I wash the plastic containers in the dishwater after washing the items that don't go into the dishwasher. Those items themselves are generally such things as plastic food prep bowls or storage containers - at some point when they are too old to use, they too will become rubbish and have to be disposed of, but I shall use them for as long as possible. It isn't only the packaging that is piling up for future generations to curse us for!

We only have 2 bins, one for recyclables which is emptied fortnightly and one for everything else. What beats me is that they want us to wash plastic food containers before putting in the recycling bin. As we have water restrictions I can’t bring myself to do it. At least plastic bags are being phased out this July.

Can I just say it does start with us.
On Saturday I bought a new mascara, at the till I took it out of the packaging and said to the girl please take this we all need to do our bit for the planet and package less and recycle more.
Today I was sent by my dd to buy her some leggings, same thing almost, the young man was actually ahead of me and said do you want these in a bag! I turned him down ?
We are going to get there it will take time.

Thank you gransnetters for all your comments. I went out for the morning and can back to them all. I’m glad I’m not alone in these thoughts. A petition sounds great and as one has already been started I think it’s probably a good idea to add to that one.There have been some great ideas put forward in your comments. I feel inspired to take some action locally. i may start with a letter to my MP about legislation regarding the manufacture of packaging

remove all plastic wrapping at store and put it in their bin, they provide it so they can recycle it or use paper bags from sustainable forests.

I was thinking more of a petition to oblige manufacturers to make all packaging biodegradable.

What about the unwanted catalogues that come all too frequently. I am currently at loggerheads with Damart. I have asked and asked them to stop sending unwanted junk to me. Also, I have asked yellowpages to stop putting their directory through my door. These companies just don’t listen. They should be made to listen. Hmph, that’s not going to happen. Rant over - for now.

For some time now I have removed all unnecessary plastic packaging at the packing bench at Aldi. I refuse to take it home and deal with it. I never put loose fruit and veg into those flimsy bags provided by supermarkets it's unnecessary.

There are already petitions about recycling circulating.
www.google.co.uk/search?q=petition+recycling&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b&gfe_rd=cr&dcr=0&ei=tNWKWsCeGaaAgAaZkoGIAw Perhaps it would bve better to endorse one or more of these, rather than start yet anoyther?

Joolz1954. I have just collected the 5 emails that you need to set up a petition, if you do this I will pm them over to you.
I tried to fill in the boxes for a petition earlier, but it kept rejecting my efforts, maybe you will have more luck.

Oh joolz1954 What SENSE you speak! It's time we rebelled! I take most packaging off, even my freezer foods, because it takes up too much room. I'm SICK of this 'higher moral ground" on sorting more recycling than others. And each council differs, so when I go to my daughter, I get it "wrong". It's been said too - Amazon! Oh Amazon! It is time you took your boxes back together with the 1,000 kilometres of paper in them! Abel and Cole re-use their boxes why don't Amazon?
We could try unpacking our stuff at the supermarket and leaving all the boxes there, but it's hardly fair on the poor staff working hard for peanuts, who would be made to move it.
Let's be active GNetter comrades! Can we sign a petition and get it to No 10? joolz1954 I give you the job of setting it up! Well done!

Good posts. Why do council make recycling difficult. My cardboard used to go in green garden bin, then with paper, the latest leaflet states cardboard now goes with plastic waste.

Make a fuss with supermarkets who don't sell loose veg, and deliveries which are dumped at the door! Lidl here has excellent loose fresh vegetables and Tesco deliveries are brought into the kitchen and unpacked.

I've had a look at some of the things in the fridge and cupboards and have found many without any recycling instructions on them. So even if I want to do it accurately I've got to guess at some items.

I've had a look on my council website and find a detailed list of what types of plastic are accepted. The list is much longer than it used to be, so that's refreshing.

I carry mesh bags (made for laundry use) in my shopping bag and try to use them when buying loose veg., but most of the stuff is prewrapped in plastic. What can I do---go to Waitrose, buy loose veg and pay almost double or go to Lidl( my usual haunt) which doesn't do loose veg. and balance my budget? If there was an old-fashioned greengrocer, I'd go there as I used to, but , surprise, surprise, it was forced out of business by the supermarkets. There's no other choice around here.