How much packaging is OK?

After I come home from food shopping I end up with at least one bag of rubbish just from the packaging of our food! 

- Crisps come inside bags which come inside bags!

- Apples are shrink wrapped and set in polystyrene!

Our food is packaged so that it is protected until we need to eat it.

We need clean food so we must have some form of packaging...right?

Our food also needs to stay in one piece so that it is not bruised or damaged during storage or delivery.

If food is damaged or dirty we will not buy it from any shop - if it arrives in a shop and is not bought by us it will be thrown away.

What sort of packaging is OK?

How much packaging is OK?

What do you think?

• Crisps should not be sold in multipacks, but discounts should be given if many bags are purchased.
• Fruit and veg should be sold loose and put in recycled, reuseable paper bags.
• If food expires, as it is sold loose it can just be composted and used to help grow more food

It makes sense, doesn't it?

 Well thats a thought...

Packaging needs to be able to keep the food edable without being excessive.  

Over packaging is a problem. I watched a program that demonstrated this, a USB key is quite small but you couldn't even fit the packaging in your pocket. One of the reasons they do this is to stop people stealing them I think but our environment is more important. It's such a waste to over package things.

That's a good point, I hadn't thought about helping to stop thieves. Small items could be tagged by reusable tags, not those plastic ones which are stuck inside, they surely cant be too good for the environment... perhaps someone could research this?

Packaging can be reduced and still protect what is inside.

I bought a small digital camera last week which is made by Nikon. I was amazed that inside its tiny box it had, the camera, the battery, the charger, the CD and the manual. The box was tiny and cleverly packed... well done Nikon!

Has anyone else seen well packed or badly packed goods? As we come up to Christmas you can look out for them and post them here.  

For example... like computer software which comes on a CD inside a really big box - thats bad

I completely agree with this whole discussion. I think everyone should have one or two bags which they would take shopping every time they need to go out and buy something! BAM! No more oil wasted on plastic bags! But... What about when the bags start to break? Well it's not hard to go out annd buy a new one! Stores should have to sell them or they wouole loose customers due to them haveing nothing to carry their purchases or they would at least loose some of the money they were makeing on the items.

Item packaging is a problem though. Crisps and such could just be put in a paper bag? Hmm... Say you were buying some dog food and it came in a paper bag, there are amounts written on the bags (50g, 120g etc). Maybe this could be used! Meat packaging may be very hard to do anything about... what could you put meat in exept plastic? This is yet another problem!

 Item packaging is alot of the time wated! For example: I bought my mum a lamp for her birthday a while ago. When I took it to the counter the woman wrapped it up in paper, then in 2 plastic bags! I just said, next time I'll take it as it is thanks! (politely!). Think about a Macdonalds! They give you the burger in one box, then in a bag! What a waste! Sweets and toys are also just as bad! (Not that I dont like sweets and toys) But you're pretty much paying for the wrapping!

Great thoughts...

I buy meat from my local butcher and Fish form my local fishmonger - surprisingly both use old news papers to wrap the food. I am not too sure if this completely complies with Health and Safety for food but I am happy with it. It is using old waste items which would have been thrown away... my family hasn't been ill yet as a result.

The trouble is when you scale things up... can you imagine buying top steak from a supermarket wrapped in old news paper? Also extra news papers would have to be printed to cope with the demand... its a "catch 22" (basically this means it goes round in circles for example "what came first, the chicken or the egg")

Did your lamp have its own box in the first place? Was it far bigger than needed or just right?

The trouble is that if it broke while you were taking it home you might have taken it back and complained...

HOW MUCH PACKAGING IS OK?!?!?!?!?!?!

Has anyone seen any GOOD packaging?

The lamp was fine but I have seen some good packaging! I bought bought a few second hand video games and in the shop I went into they had a large cardbord box with the words, 'Old Game Boxs' written on the side. And it was full of old video games boxes! My mum (being nosey) asked why they had them in and they said they recycle them. They said they're not supposed to but the store owner prefers it! They also give you the games in a paper wallet, with some cotton wool to stop the disk from scratching! I found this store in a visit to Balckpool with my family and for Blackpool... that's really good! (No offence to Balckpool! )

We recently went shopping and the packaging on one item was terrible about three quaters of the space was not bieng used  I've never seen such a waste!

What was the product with the bad packaging? 

 Hi everyone,

I went to the CO-OP yesterday and I was amazed to see that they are now selling cucumbers without any wrappers! Well done the CO-OP.

Apparently this saves 8 tonnes of plastic a year!!

Just think how much is wasted elsewhere!

What other products dont need extra wrapping?

What do you think. 

Have you ever noticed how toothpaste comes in a cardboard box when its inside a tube already? Seems so wastful. If you were to walk through any supermarket with a clipboard and marked down how much pacaging was wasted we'd probably lose the will to live.

Would it not be an idea to have reusable packaing? I don't know if this is being done already but still.

I know that most supermarkets have recycling machines in the major branches. For example i think sainsburys has two recycling/compacting machines in every major branch and some others brands have at least one in each major branch.

Still any ideas for end user rubbish would be great. It needs to be reduced but we need to be carefull about the point when items become so badly damaged no one buys them and it goes to waste. What could be a good idea is actually talking to supermarkets and manufacturers and see what they say.

This is our world and our life our choices now will affect us later. - Karma comes true.

See ya!

Oliver

id rather people would use packaging that wasnt plastic

that why It would be good to have country markets and such they dont use any packaging at all and if we all went to a local butcher every thing would be freash with very little packaging. Another good thing would be that none of it would be imported a local!

but wouldn't the product get bruised or broken?