Plastic (or how to avoid it)

My local butcher has asked their customers to bring in containers from home into which they will transfer the purchases with a piece of greaseproof paper. Only possible with small shops but a step in the right direction.

For years I have used home-made voile draw-string bags for loose vegetables from the supermarket instead of the usual plastic, but surely paper bags could be offered for this purpose.

Waitrose are going the French route and from the beginning of next year, fruit and veg bags for self-selection vegetables will be compostable.

That's good news. Those new bags have a very strange texture though.
I do my bit by refusing plastic carrier bags, as most people here do.
I read about a project last week, written by the mother of a large family, who recorded all the plastic she got from a weekly shop. Then decided what was essential and what she could do without.
Good for her, she reported the results to the school of one of her children and got them to start a project there.
I'm sometimes afraid to walk around here, with all the plastic bags blowing around. Someone I know got one stuck on her foot and broke her ankle.

I heard on the radio today that there are something like 40 different recycling policies in operation round the country. I think manufacturers need to be pressured into using materials that can be widely recycled, and we need to standardise the system so it is much more efficient.