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Some plastic does not get picked up in recycling bins eg solid coffee jar lids (these should be returned to suppliers for reuse).
Polystyrene is another useless item I try to avoid.
Envelopes cannot be recycled here, and their plastic inserts are landfill bound.

John.

Envelopes? What's wrong with envelopes? Aren't they made of paper any more? If you were arguing for cutting down the number manufactured, then fine - but aren't paper envelopes compostable or even burnable?

They are not recyclable, that is the problem for non-composters. Is burning not bad for the environment (incineration)?
I think sending junk-mail should be opposed by consumers as it is a completely useless activity.

John

johnhcrf wrote:Clara, The problem with envelopes is that they are sent mostly as junk mail. Part of the answer is to return these to sender or to the post office.

If we receive junk mail. we also send it all back to them, in their own SAE.
eventually. i(f everyone did it) they may get the point.
(paying two postages for nothing)

if there is no return envelope what do you use?


John.

you save up all your junk mail and send it to whoever sends you a freepost return envelope (Not ones for charities - that's just sick) Credit card applications are the best

hedgewitch wrote -

My biggest problem I have is polystyrene - horrible, horrible stuff with no recycling worth what-so-ever.

You could re-use it as insulation in a shed, chook house, kennel, or haybox cooker... I would not recommend you use it in your house.

Its time to bin the junk mail business and I will pass the details into my website. How do we return plastic coffee jar tops to suppliers? They are built to last and therefore should not go to landfill.

John

I don't know about the coffee jar lids but I do strip down unecessary packaging in supermarkets at the checkout. The point there is that businesses pay by weight for waste so it's in their interests to reduce what they throw away. If we all gave them back the packaging then it would cost them to dispose of it.

Asda were doing an experiment last year asking customers to return packaging they thought was over the top. Does anyone know what the outcome of that was?

Presumably it's only the window bits of envelopes that can't be recycled. Can't you just tear that bit off and put the rest of the envelope in for recycling?

Cheers
Zoe

multiveg wrote:

johnhcrf wrote:De-packaging still produces landfill. Home bin waste reduction is a first step in the long march to total waste reduction.
Old practices like paying at the fruit/veg counter would be welcome. Fish/Meat is a problem. They cannot be unpackaged and if consumers use plastic boxes who is to blame if the fish/meat is off?

John

Yes, but it would then be up to the supermarket to sort it and perhaps it would give them an incentive to reduce packaging. I think that the German supermarkets had recycling bins for the different types of packaging, but can't remember.

I believe this is actually written into German law....if a consumer returns packaging to the store it came from, it is the stores responsibility to recycle it. If such a scheme were taken on Europe-wide I´m sure supermarkets would come up with ways of reducing packaging in the first place, because both the initial packaging and then the recycling will hit them where it hurts.......in the profit margin

Going to sound terribly middle-class now but surely if you bought ground coffee from a specialist shop, you would usually get it in an unbleached paper bag and avoid the plastic lids.

The Monmouth Coffee Shop, for example, does this and furthermore you get delicious coffee from a company that knows its stuff and has close relationship with the suppliers (fairtrade on a personal scale). The coffee menu reads like a wine list and the experience of being in the shop is a joy for the senses........I don´t even like coffee! But when I´m in London I always have to go and buy someone a present!

Clara, I drink all types of coffee. Instant is instant. Lidl sell 500g Colombian ground for £1.99. Beat that.
Ordinary folk buy instant. Their waste is part of landfill. So it is important.
Return to supplier for reuse that produces a sustainable cycle.

John.

John, I admire your desire for zero waste and sustainability, but returning plastic caps to suppliers for re-use is a non-starter. How much fuel and time would go into that process? How would the caps be cleaned? What would you do with the broken caps? Who would want to pay the additional cost (because I'll guarantee that the cost of return would be higher than new manufacture)?

Unless, of course, your idea is just to annoy the Hell out of the suppliers in the hope that they'll stop using plastic caps altogether. Is that what you're driving at?

Thomzo wrote:
Presumably it's only the window bits of envelopes that can't be recycled. Can't you just tear that bit off and put the rest of the envelope in for recycling?

Cheers
Zoe

Apparently it's not just the windows... it's the glue on them that is the problem. It can be animal based glue that is used and this gums up the recycling machines (at least the ones that our council uses IIRC) and this was their reason for us not putting them in the recycling bin. Same reason was given for not taking the labels off tins when putting them in for recycling.

I do wish that the recycling rules were the same for everyone - it would make it much easier for people to do the recycling and send less to landfill.

Ladies first, as always. Shirley, you are right about the confusion. However, in the literature only envelopes are excluded. The forum is a good place to sort out confusion and in my old-styled website I say "login and join in".
MKG, sustainability is the key. For example, say we buy 1m jars/yr for 10 years that will be 10m lids in landfill(10 years of costs) a vicious circle of waste increase. Return and reuse these 1m (landfill costs zero), a virtuous cycle. Repeat for 10 years (no landfill costs). As you rightly say there are difficulties. However, I cannot remember the last time I saw a damaged lid. Collecting/Returning/Washing has to be done. Consumers,stores,suppliers will all need to do their bit.
Alternatively, a new type of lid would be required or the product could be altered to fulfill ZWP.

John.

johnhcrf wrote: Alternatively, a new type of lid would be required or the product could be altered to fulfill ZWP.

John.

Any ideas about that?