The future of plastic

But the country is running out of landfill sites, hence all the expensive incinerators, and the land can then not be fully returned to agriculture because of the pollutants in the soil. Some grazing can take place, but whether the animals can then go into the food chain I am not sure.

I thought anaerobic digesters were for processing food waste, not for non-recyclable rubbish which would normally go to landfill and for which we are trying to find a solution?

Yes they are Callistemon I was confusing the issue.
I am pleased to hear that at least in some parts of the country recycling is happening.
We are very behind at every level.
I host young people from around the world and they are quite used to recycling and refilling. However I was surprised when a German boy saw more electric cars here than back home.

I don't think it was your post which confused me, Grammaretto.

We trust what the LAs tell us about their recycling records whether or not that is true!

I was rather shocked by the lack of recycling in some areas overseas but understand that the logistics could be difficult.

I’m afraid we have to choose the least worse solution, to dispose of our waste, recycle or compost where it is economic, but not at any cost. Soft plastics in particular should not go to landfill. My own bins are over 80% recyclable with less than 20% waste, mostly soft plastic and some general rubbish
Biodegradable does not seem to be the holy grail of plastics.

We could do a lot by simply refusing to buy plastic crap.
I’ve recently been to children’s party. The house and garden was festooned with plastic bunting,(it’s summer where I am at the moment) all the children were given plastic goody bags filled with more plastic rubbish.
The garden was awash with plastic slides, pools, ride on toys. We used to have to share toys, not have one each.
The message doesn’t seem to making much impression on the young.
There were 3 birthday cakes, one to eat and 2 to smash. One was full of sweets, one full of plastic things.
If we didn’t buy the rubbish in the first place there wouldn’t be so much to dispose of.
Plastic should be viewed as a valuable product to be used wisely.

Its tricky isn't it when faced with the barage of merchandise Pamela

A silver lining in this coronavirus scare may be less crap from china and less pollution for them.
We used to give out paper bags with a pencil and a packet of flower seeds along with chocolate and birthday cake. Always home made.
smug so and so

I had a light bulb moment this morning, I suspect it is a moment that most people had years ago and I am just slow on the uptake.

The reason so much of our shopping is so packaged in every type of packaging materials is because we no longer have shop assistants.

Think about fruit and veg. In the supermarket fruit and veg aisle there will 6 kinds of apples, 4 types of onions 3 types of potatoes. If everything was loose when you get to the till, how is the cashier to remember which one is which -simples -. Have one item free flow and all the rest packaged with names and prices on the packaging.

Until recently there were still green grocers where you went in, someone put your fruit and veg directly in your basket or in a recyclable/compostable/reusable paper bag.

This applied in almost every kind of shop. If we want to get rid of packaging bring back shop assistants.

Oh, except, remember the long queues waiting to be served, not being able to see just how fresh the bottom fruit in the bag was.

Back to square one, pass me that package of 6 Braeburn apples.

I think it was Morrison's which were giving paper bags for the loose fruit and veg when we went the other day.

We have a community shop in our town which prides itself on no plastic or very little. You can buy a single potato. There's a refillery too.
It can be slow to be served but it's friendly and sociable.
A return to old fashioned values perhaps?

We’re lucky enough to have a green grocer still. It’s mainly a serve yourself loose stuff. The supermarket has loose as well as pre-packed - but have poly bags. We re-use ours.

What I object to is that the tasteless cheap bananas are loose while the lovely, tasty expensive organic ones are pre-packed. I understand they need to differentiate between them, but there must be another way.

But... I had a Seasalt order delivered yesterday. In a double layered brown paper bag with the garments loose inside. NO PLASTIC! Mind you, it was delivered by Royal Mail so it wasn’t left on the doorstep in the rain.

Went n on the train to Sydney this morning. It was poring with rain. At every station there was a plastic bag dispenser for wet umbrellas.

We just need to be aware and do what we can. So buy loose fruit and vegetables (we have a market), take cotton bags to put your shopping in, freeze excess and left-overs using recycled plastic bags like those frozen foods come in.
I have metal bowls and bins and use china or enamel containers, not plastic. Wooden or fabric toys or give books. Rubber balls and raw bones for the dog. No more plastic bottles of water.