Not yet recycled

A disclaimer I see all too often on food packaging.

I believe that the headline grabbing solutions the current UK government is proposing to reduce plastics pollution are merely that, headline grabbing but postural, non effective.

Sure, it would be great if so many coffee cups were not just thrown away, plastic drinks containers, ear buds, plastic straws.

Single use plastics go far deeper.

Single use coffee cups are a miracle of ergonomics, my guess is they are designed to meet the lawyer’s requirements of “no customer could ever burn their fingers”, rather than here is a cup we are physically able to recycle.

We used to have ear buds made from waxed paper and cotton, what happened there? Probably lawyers.

What happened to the waxed paper straws I remember from my youth?

My local off licence won’t be able to afford the space or the bottle recycling machine, even though drinks containers (and straws) tend to be super recyclable.

I think we are looking in the wrong place.

By far the most plastics that each day do not go into my recycling but go into my brown waste is food packaging and I buy as little as I can from supermarkets! And I am lucky, most people in the UK rely 100% on them.

So many food products come in packaging that is not recyclable at all or only part of it is recyclable. Most of this comes from the big name supermarkets.

These are the most powerful and profitable companies in the UK. No doubt contributing handsomely into Conservative Party coffers.

What does “Not Currently Recyclable” actually mean?

Is it marketing speak? “This material is such a daft mix, it would take magical alien technology to separate”? Or does it mean “we know your local government is so cash-strapped they won’t ever be able to handle this”?

It is actually a very clear message. It says “we care more about our convenience and profitability than our environment”.

Why is it still legal to sell any product in non-recyclable packaging?

When we have dealt with that one, we can deal with the situations where stuff that is recyclable is not getting recycled.

Note to self : take your bloody glasses when you got shopping so you can read the labels and reject products in non-recyclable packaging.