Pouches!

I am just back from Sainbury’s, which I don’t visit often as it’s quite a hike for us. I noticed they now have a collection point for pouches and soft plastics.

I can only get to one supermarket and it’s not the Co-Op. We do have a fill-your-own-containers shop but it’s 100%organic and extremely expensive. I’d love to support organic farming but not while everything costs two or three times as much as in Waitrose.

In my area only certain branches of Coop have the pouch/plastic recycling bins. I assume that’s because not every branch has room for them. The shop on our high street is very small and there’s no outside area so there’s nowhere to put a bin. Otoh, a newish branch on the other side of town has its own car park so they can easily accommodate a bin.

The Coop did have a list of which branches had recycling facilities.

LindaPat

I have been trying for ages to find somewhere local to recycle our pet food pouches. Most of the larger supermarkets say they recycle them, but when you get there - they don't.

This week I have tried Tesco, Co-op and Sainsburys, no luck. Maybe it's down to the individual store manager?

Latest place I have found is Pets at Home, so I am going to try there tomorrow. Wish me luck!

The Co-op recycling bins are dark grey with a blue lid. I have seen them outside their stores as well as other shops. They look rather like a litter bin, so perhaps you have missed them. I dropped off a bag full of pouches when on my walk this morning.

Early
Thanks for the suggestion. I did try this avenue a while ago, but the only place for collection near me is an RSPCA charity shop, with no parking nearby. Bit of a faff too, as you have to contact a representative for details of when you can leave the pouches at the shop, not as simple as turning up and putting them in a bin.

But thanks for the suggestion. Take care xx

LindaPat

Try

www.terracycle.com/en-GB/brigades/petfood-uk

Mars and Purina are working with Tetracycle on this. Click on the arrow in the left bar for a list of participants to see if there's one near you.

I thought this was going to be a complaint about the increasing use of pouches too and the fact that they may not be recyclable.

What is wrong with pet food coming in tins? As far as I know aluminium cans are recycled, are easy to wash out (essential) and there were recent reports that there was a shortage of tin cans resulting in shortages of some foods.

It seems to make sense to me but it may not be that simple.

I have been trying for ages to find somewhere local to recycle our pet food pouches. Most of the larger supermarkets say they recycle them, but when you get there - they don't.

This week I have tried Tesco, Co-op and Sainsburys, no luck. Maybe it's down to the individual store manager?

Latest place I have found is Pets at Home, so I am going to try there tomorrow. Wish me luck!

That sounds very similar to our new refill shop, MaybeMaw. It’s kind of fun, like one of those toy shops I had when I was a child. Filling things up and weighing them, printing out labels, what’s not to enjoy!

I’ve just started getting milk delivered in bottles. Someone set up a service recently and it’s going well so far.

Here's our refill shop in Leigh on sea.

www.essexlive.news/whats-on/essexs-first-zero-waste-supermarket-3366442

We did have a similar shop in Southend at least 40 yrs ago.
Only that one wasn't quite so trendy. Just good honest basic foods and cleaners.

Wow! That is fantastic, Maw.

You’d like this then Kali2.
A new shop called The Green Way 2 Shop opened recently near me Customers can visit the shop and take along any container, any size or shape. Containers can be weighed in store and used to purchase and transport products, the shop will also have glass jars and bottles available for the convenience of customers.
The Green Way 2 Shop allows customers to buy and refill produce such as cereals, rice, pasta, legumes, beans, nuts, seeds, herbs, spices, flavoured oils, gluten free granolas, oats, pastas along with many plastic free household and personal hygiene items.
It has also been able to source local produce such as jams, honey, marmalade, chutneys, teas, coffees, chocolate, men’s grooming products, liquid soaps and cleaning products.

My local Sainsburys store now recycles pouches and soft plastics. It is surprising how quickly they mount up, I take a carrier bag full every week.

What I understand from "too-good" is expecting all plastic to be recycled. It is good to wash smelly packaging but don't put it into recycling as it may be not be considered good enough to rework. It certainly keeps your grey bin cleaner. Also, we have been told not to recycle black plastic but we can re. tetrapacks.

Boz

I put pouches into recycling bin. However, read recently that some people are just too good at recycling and wash all their plastic ready for re-use. This means the vacuum sealed plastic dishes for, say, kippers or meat that I suspect will not get re-processed. My grey bin has a small bag of kitchen waste per week.

I don’t understand what’s ‘too good’ about washing those things? We rinse or wash everything with food residue that goes in the bins, whether for recycling or not - otherwise it’s going to smell and attract flies.

I put pouches into recycling bin. However, read recently that some people are just too good at recycling and wash all their plastic ready for re-use. This means the vacuum sealed plastic dishes for, say, kippers or meat that I suspect will not get re-processed. My grey bin has a small bag of kitchen waste per week.

kircubbin2000

I still have the suspicion that most of our recycling is dumped or wasted. My son gave me a load of recycled garden compost which turned out to be what his council had burnt and shredded from the food and garden bins. It didn't help my plants.

Your suspicions are right kircubbin2000.

Putting recyling bins in store is something but what all these supermarkets are silent on is what happens next. Where does the waste plastic then go? Is it dumped in the ocean or shipped to countries such as Malaysia and Turkey where it is left to rot to contaminate land and water or burned in the open air sending gallons of toxic smoke across communities. It may not be Chernobyl but it’s not far off.

This:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-48581669

Supermarket responsibilty should not end in waving off a lorry load of plastic waste collected from their stores. They are entirely responsible for brainwashing us into this way of life in the first place and need to do much more at either end of the chain, reducing plastic packaging in the first place and ensuring that what packaging cannot be avoided is disposed of responsibly.

Haven't seen these pouches but am decidedly interested and have access to the major supermarkets. Are they in the fridges or on the shelves, please?

I still have the suspicion that most of our recycling is dumped or wasted. My son gave me a load of recycled garden compost which turned out to be what his council had burnt and shredded from the food and garden bins. It didn't help my plants.

Blossoming

More recently than that Esspee, I was reading about it in a trade publication.

I worked on the introduction in Asda and it was before I met my OH. I am very vague about dates but it certainly was before he appeared in my life ten years ago.

The list of items which can be recycled at the Co-op collection points includes pet food pouches, so expect the other ones are acceptable too. I take great delight in saving my cat food pouches, bread bags, crisp packets, yoghurt lids etc for the bin at my local shop.
I believe Sainsbury's have also started their own scheme.

Recycling is improving but there is a very, very long way to go.

Marcus Gover, chief executive of sustainable resource use charity, Wrap, said: “As little as 6% of problematic plastic is collected and recycled in the UK, despite making up nearly a quarter of all plastic packaging by weight.

And even if you do put out plastic for roadside collection or take it to a recycle point you don’t know what happens next. UK consumers use far more plastic than can be recycled. Hundreds of thousands of tonnes of UK plastic waste is dumped in the oceans every year killing marine life and getting into the food chain.

Recent research revealed an alarming level of plastic microfibres in babies bodies. Plastic microfibres have been found in the the placentas of birthing mothers, the lifeline that provides oxygen and nutrients to a baby while its organs develop. How does it get there? From plastic already in food or leeching from plastic packaging. This is what our over-reliance on plastic packaging is doing to future generations.

As well as ocean dumping, the UK ships plastic waste to countries like Malaysia or or Turkey where it is left to rot, poisoning land and water courses and that means poisoning humans and animals. UK exports to Turkey increased from 12,000 tonnes in 2016 to 209,642 tonnes in 2020, about 30% of the UK's plastic waste exports. Out of sight out of mind.

The War on Plastic series with Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall and Anita Rani was an eyeopener. Near the end of the film Rani talks to the Tesco executive in charge of packaging across all their stores where she admits it's cheaper to buy unrecycleable-plastic-wrapped food than fresh. The film is from 2019. Three loose peppers cost £1.65. Three peppers packaged in unrecycleable plastic cost 91p.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKYw0qTiywE

Watch the woman at 12 minutes who doesn't want to cut a piece from a block of cheese so buys it all in tiny bits of individually plastic wrapped pieces.

It’s worth looking at Tetracycle to see what can be recycled ...

www.terracycle.com/en-GB/collection-programs?query=pouches

zerowasteboxes.terracycle.co.uk/pages/how-the-zero-waste-box-system-works

... but it would be better for our bodies and the environment if we stopped buying plastic-wrapped and packaged food in the first place.

I live alone too watermeadow and I know the feeling about cooking up a batch of food and eating the same thing every day. I no longer run my freezer so have stopped doing big batch cooks. I eat a plant-based diet and tend to cook a couple of different dishes at the same time in medium sized pans then alternate them with say a salad every other day. Dish one, salad, dish two, salad and so on. And I always have some home made soup in the fridge.

Apologies, bit of a long rant but something I feel passionate about and blame supermarkets for.

More recently than that Esspee, I was reading about it in a trade publication.

Kali2

I thought this thread would be about refill pouches- that save tons of plastic.

Do any UK supermarket sell those for liquid wash, handwash, conditioner, bleach, etc, etc, as we have here in France.

Yes, lots of things come in recyclable pouches now. I’ve bought all the ones you mention, apart from bleach, and that’s because I don’t use much bleach, so rarely buy it. It could be available, for all I know.

I now buy concentrated refills for kitchen/bathroom cleaner, they’re about the size of a tablet bottle. You put it into the empty bottle, fill with water and that’s job done. I use bar soap and shampoo. We now have a refill shop in our small town, as well. Things have improved immensely on this front in recent times.

Wrt the OP, I’ve bought those pouches now and then, but I think they’re pricey and I feel guilty about the waste.

Blossoming

Some big supermarkets including Asda, Aldi and M&S have trialled them, but I don’t think they are implemented yet.

Asda trialled refillable packs of laundry conditioner over 10 years ago. The machine broke down regularly which is why I believe they stopped doing it.