Читать книгу The Savvy Shopper - Rose Prince - Страница 21

Try to picture one and a half billion dustbins full of waste, inside them 12 billion carrier bags, at least one billion emblazoned with the names of our major supermarkets. Add to this a few billion glass jars, bottles and cans that missed the recycling bin. And then imagine burying the whole lot. Choose a spot. The Lake District? The Norfolk Broads? The Wiltshire Downs? It has to go somewhere and much of it, sad to say, is the debris of our dinners.

Waste Watch, a government-funded agency, reports that 28 million tonnes of waste are generated by UK households annually, of which only 11 per cent is recycled; 81 per cent is dumped in landfill sites and space is running out without more recycling. The government has said that the food and drink industry is a major source of waste, accounting for 10 per cent of all industrial and commercial waste, ‘notably packaging’.

The figures for recycled waste have gone up encouragingly but there is still a problem with packaging. Most irritating is the pass-the-parcel package: cardboard cartons containing 12 boxes of cellophane-wrapped biscuits are typical. Chocolate packaging can be outrageous. Have you ever scrabbled desperately through cellophane wrapping and a triple-thickness cardboard box, then removed a sticker from a waxed paper layer to reveal another of corrugated paper, under which 12 chocolates are sitting, wrapped in foil? Some suppliers use recycled, biodegradable packaging, but less is better. Brown paper bags are a great wrapping for vegetables and fruit, newsprint good for meat and fish and, if you shop by car, it is good to take boxes from supermarkets, not carrier bags. Or use baskets. Feel superior at the checkout, putting your hand up to say ‘no’ to the carrier bag.