Waitrose plastic-free shopping: your views

It is some time since we had a Waitrose home delivery but each type of loose fruit and veg was put in a polythene bag before being included with other goods in large plastic bags for which there was a charge.

We have a large delivery from Sainsbury’s about every three weeks but rarely order fresh fruit and vegetables. Last time, however, there was a bag of four apples on the order but due to a picking error only one apple was delivered, in its own polythene bag, inside a bag with some other items.

Sainsbury’s will deliver with or without bags but if you wish to have bags there is a standard charge of 40p, presumably on the assumption that the average requirement is eight bags. We find having the delivery in bags is much more convenient and easier to handle so we opt for bags. Our last delivery came in over twenty bags, some of them containing only one item. The bags don’t get wasted and we use them over and over again but we now have far more than is sensible. I am considering getting some tubs or strong carriers so that we can transfer the shopping, without bags, from the tote boxes brought to the front door but the tote boxes contain such a variety of goods from different categories that it would be difficult to do it systematically.

Thanks John. I do hope the supermarkets can come up with a solution that involves less plastic waste. On the other hand, home deliveries might – if they become more popular – be a more efficient way of distributing groceries than us all heading to the supermarkets in our cars.

If someone needs the ability to put a quick meal together, or just requires a small portion, then this can be very convenient for them. I think we should concentrate on bottled water, although canned air might be coming along soon for people living in polluted cities 🙁

I suggest we look at all aspects of waste rather than just some of them.

The problem with that is there is too much to tackle at one go, so nothing will get done.

Our present problem, one in the public eye, is excessive packaging and, in particular, plastics that are polluting the planet. It is a major issue to sort out, with huge benefits when we do. We should get stuck into that and deal with it now.

I think we could leave mashed potato for a later day. Incidentally, someone might work out how much electrical energy it takes to make one portion of mash at home, rather than putting ready-made in the microwave for a couple of minutes – but that’s no doubt another Convo.

Ready-made mashed potato is a very good example of plastic waste. In the photo we have a black plastic tray, which is unlikely to be recycled for technical reasons, a plastic film that cannot currently be recycled and a paper sleeve.

It is the packaging that is the issue, not the potato, isn’t it? Perhaps it could be sold without so much packaging and, if necessary, in an aluminium tray that can be repeatedly recycled. Many products need a film cover to keep them fresh; there may be better materials that can be used, even aluminium foil perhaps. I’d suggest these are the primary issues to address first.

If we are not careful we will keep talking about the problem, instead of getting stuck in to dealing with it. It is now at least 2 years since this topic first arose in Convos and we are still going round the same houses. I think Which? have a magazine article coming up in July (is my memory correct?) and, if so, it will be interesting to see whether they have constructive proposals that can be pursued.

I think we are more likely to tackle waste plastic if we look at all aspects rather than picking on the ones we think are most important.

We often discuss the value of education in helping young people manage money and to improve numeracy. With a sea of plastic pollution and other environmental problems I suggest it’s important to encourage young people to drive forward the changes needed to make our society more sustainable. It’s very much their future.

How did tea bags containing plastic ever get onto the market when the problem of plastic particles has been known for a couple of decades?

Which? could work with WRAP and major environmental charities to help bring about change, but those who can achieve most are the supermarket and other food retailers.

Mashed potato is not compulsory. I can easily microwave a few loose potatoes – if I wanted them mashed, I could always mash them afterwards.

Given all the data that supermarkets and others collect about our shopping habits, we should all be aware of the butterfly effect and try to employ it whenever we shop.

I’m very glad that the Yowk does not seem to have made it to the supermarket shelves. Have a look at this video and think about the waste packaging: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5TuPIHQivQ

“Which? could work with WRAP and major environmental charities to help bring about change“.

This issue should be coordinated properly, not a fragmented approach. Which? should not campaign on its own but get together with organisations specialist in a particular field. Feeding in Convo contributors proposals should be a part of their role.

Here is the WRAP initiative. wrap.org.uk/sites/files/wrap/The-UK-Plastics-Pact-Roadmap-v2.pdf. However, it seems to focus on plastics, on a roadmap, but seems to lack real proposals on how to minimise unnecessary packaging. It rightly focuses on plastics but focuses largely on reaching recycling targets. That is a good start but I am not convinced that continual recycling is the answer; plastics degrade in that process and cannot often be reused for the original purpose. I don’t want to see applications being “created” for otherwise unemployed plastic waste.

I believe the focus should be on eliminating unnecessary packaging and, where we need packaging, to use continually recyclable or reusable materials and products to help eliminate plastics from this market.

The decline in quality of plastics during recycling is a point that I have been making since we started to discuss how to deal with plastic waste. Other materials including paper, cardboard and glass lose quality when recycled. Foil made from recycled aluminium can have pinhole defects.

We are agreed on a collaborative approach. I can see a case for legislation to encourage better practice. One possibility would be to provide a financial incentive to sell loose goods.

Preferring the carrot to the stick, perhaps awards could be given to companies that are independently judged to make the best contribution to reduced plastic and other waste. After posting a negative comment about the Yowk above I found that the product had won an award for innovation. 🙁 There is a YouTube video.

“Aluminium foils thicker than 25 μm (1 mil) are impermeable to oxygen and water. Foils thinner than this become slightly permeable due to minute pinholes caused by the production process.“.

Essentially, aluminium is infinitely recyclable. https://www.ecomena.org/recycling-aluminium/. Recycling requires only 5% of the energy that is needed to produced “brand new” aluminium, and, apparently, 70% of all the aluminium ever produced is still with us (but 30% loss is an awful lot!).

It seems to me a prime candidate to replace much plastic. It might, of course, cost a little more to use in place of plastics, but if we really want to deal with the plastics problem there might be a contribution needed from consumers. It may be more than offset by eliminating unnecessary packaging and the use of customer’s own containers.

I’d be interested to see expert views (mine aren’t) on where and how aluminium could be used to replace plastics. Doing that would be a huge step forward. Whilst we may not solve all the plastics problems at one go a big start is better than prevaricating.