What’s the point, really?

It’s easy to see people as just self-serving when it comes down to it. That people are somehow born with an instinct only to protect themselves and to place others, and other things, as secondary concerns.

It’s easy because it’s reductive. Because of course it’s not true. Closer to the truth is that we’ve all got an instinct to protect things – ourselves, our family, our community, our world – but that because of upbringing, situation or experience, people begin to focus the instinct on just one of these elements.

The world isn’t full of selfish people. It’s just that there are a hell of a lot of people who – mostly, basically – are protective, and are just trying to protect the things that mean the most to them. Or, crucially, to protect those things they feel capable of protecting at all.

Rubbish collection

For a time, I took a plastic bag into work. My way home took me along a stretch of road where bus stops and trudging schoolkids left a constant wash-up of casual rubbish, and as I went I’d pick out the recyclable stuff – cans and plastic bottles mainly – drop it in the bag and put it in my own recycling bins at home.

Sometimes I’d feel better because of it. Sometimes I’d imagine I was getting ‘a look’ from passing motorists or whoever, but I doubt anyone really noticed. Sometimes I’d feel like I’d actually made a difference, like I was protecting something.

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Too busy to save the world?

The new Snap Pots from Heinz make me sad. This we have already established. But until I got in touch with Heinz to find out why it had decided to reinvent the wheel, I didn’t realise that I should have been sad about something else.

Because, according to Heinz, there are lots of people with “time pressured lifestyles” who want a “personalised portion” without having to “to hover by the hob, worry about waste or adding to the pile of unwashed pots and pans”. And, so, Heinz has responded to the British public’s “busy lifestyles” by creating the (unrecyclable plastic, remember) Snap Pots. Bravo.

Snap Pot evolution

“Consumers increasingly expect their food to be as convenient as possible” the Heinz press statement earnestly claims. Heinz fans have a “preference for their food to come in a convenient format” it stresses. But does that mean it ought to be pandering to the sorts of people who are so convinced of their own time-poverty?

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‘Not recyclable everywhere yet’

Recycling is a habit. Unlike climate change (or should it be Climate Change) the need for people to recycle, reduce or reuse what they consume is undeniable. There’s no fuzzy science, no grey areas. Just a mass of filthy holes in the ground all too quickly filled with stinking rubbish. And there are only so many landfills.

So. Successful recycling is about connecting with people, and helping them see that it’s a lot easier than it seems. It’s about forming habits, not forcing behaviour. You need simple processes, support from local authorities, and it needs to be a straightforward habit to learn for people who aren’t kept awake by Radley Lake nightmares. Yet.

Idiotic then, as Ecologist senior reporter Mark Anslow points out in last month’s issue, that recycling plastics is so ruddy confusing. Often you’ll see the logo on plastics, but without the important polymer identifier, and you’re very lucky if the council collection will take it away. It’s all down to sorting – bottles only come in three polymer types and are easy to sort on sight. Most other plastics aren’t that easily recognisable, and so are often not collected.

Then, you’ve got the spectacularly counterproductive “This packaging is recyclable” logos. Which show a tick, clearly suggesting that the plastic is recyclable. Only that’s not quite the case…

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Eazy Beanzy? EAZY BEANZY?

I don’t want to get carried away. But there’s something just terrifying about Heinz’s new ‘Eazy Beanzy’ campaign. Not just because the idiotic need to repackage an already over-packaged item is a pure unadulterated illustration of exploitation-tastic consumerism gone mad, but also because I really want to know who the hell can’t deal with a regular can of beans?

In a tin, beans are easily prepared (stick ‘em in a pan, or zap ‘em in a microwave). They’re easily stored for a few days by squeezing the lid back down on the remaining beans. And they’re easily recyclable, as it just takes a quick rinse of the can before it can be thrown straight into the weekly recycling collection. So why (WHY?) do we need a four-pack, plastic-packaged rebranding?

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Making a fuss?

It’s easy to be branded an eco-pain. Before Christmas, I sent out an email to everyone I had ever met at my work, reminding them in as self-conscious a way as possible that TVs, plugs, PCs and whatnot needed turning off before we all left. So I’m used to having “Hippie!” bellowed jokingly (or not so much) at me from across the office.

Which is why I didn’t feel too awkward trying to sort out a problem that, in reality, isn’t a monumental issue. The epic building site outside where I work is ringed with a fence, and the fence is dotted with electric lights. Which are on 24 hours a day, every day, all week. Sure, it’s hardly the end of the world. But it was still worth looking into.

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Pret a Manger: “96% of our packaging can be recycled”

Pret a Manger, the sandwich shop with a conscience, has a plan. Its co-mingled recycling campaign is in the early stages – with trials in 3 shops underway right now – but already sounds promising, providing special bins in-store to collect every bit of rubbish then sort it out for recycling later. I’ve been told that Pret is aiming to get the scheme into 90% of its stores by the summer.

But just how effective can the scheme be? Well, according to commercial director Simon Hargraves, 96% of all of Pret’s packaging can be recycled, hinting that the instore plan ought to be hugely successful. I phoned up Simon and quizzed him on other elements of Pret’s sustainable outlook.

When do you expect the co-mingled scheme will reach Pret stores?
Simon Hargraves: “We’ve carried out several trials over 2 years. While it seems relatively straightforward, customer recycling is actually ground breaking stuff and fraught with challenges. We’re not happy with the design of the bins at present. We’re on our third version so far. Our fourth, and very likely our last, arrives for trial at the end of this month. We expect to roll out to 90% of our shops across the country by end of Summer 2008.”

Does Pret have any predictions for the success of the scheme?
SH: “96% of our packaging can be recycled, and we’ve made the scheme as easy as possible. All packaging goes into one side of the bin and all left over food in the other. There is also a hole for leftover liquids (coffee dregs, emptying cans etc). The trials have shown that customers aren’t all adhering to the simple rules (understandable) and this leads to contamination, which ultimately reduce the amount of waste that will be accepted at the recycling plants.

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Fare strike

When a cause comes around that really means something to you, you have to grab it with both hands. Which is why I hauled myself out of bed at 7am yesterday morning (on a day off work) to go down to Bath Spa station and take part in the Worst Late Western fare strike, organised by MoreTrainLessStrain.

Dom Joly at the fare strike

The verdict? Media attention was hot – cameras, interviews, reporters, even Dom Joly of Trigger Happy TV was outside Bath station in the rising light. I caught his attention for a moment, and asked Mr. Joly what brought him to the fare strike. And then immediately wished I’d said something matey and funny like “I’M AT A STRIKE!”. Or something like that. Sigh.

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What can I do with this?

You’ve just had soup for lunch, or perhaps coffee for breakfast. You’re left with an empty cup, seemingly made out of cardboard, which can’t be used again. So what do you do with it?

What can I do with this?

If you’re like me, they stack up on your desk, a wavering tower of guilt. It’s about time I did something about them, actually, so rather than spout another ream of green-tinged paragraphs, I thought I’d investigate if there’s an environmentally friendly way of clearing these cups from my desk…

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Step one

I’m an eco-worrier. What mainly plays on my mind is that – in reality – changing to a greener lifestyle is far easier than people think. Example – recycling. It’s all about habit forming, not huge effort. I’ve chivvied my housemates, who initially didn’t know you could recycle newspaper, into recyclers who even wash out the bean tins before dumping them in the box.

The biggest problem isn’t doing it, it’s knowing what and how to do it. And it worries me that we – and by we I mean all the weeping eco-obsessed Guardianista liberal lefties – can’t expect people to get on board unless there’s enough information to make it simple and straightforward. Which is why I’ve been writing a feature called Everything you ever wanted to know about recycling, but couldn’t be bothered to ask. Snappy, eh?

I’ve attempted to get it published in Bristol/Bath Venue magazine, but to no joy – admittedly, it is a bit long winded, though I’ve really worked to keep it simple and straightforward as possible. Perhaps Big Issue is more suited, though it’ll need less of a Bath/Bristol focus. But here’s an extract as an example of how I think we need to broach the issue – lighthearted but informative, not smug or overwhelming.

So what else can I recycle?

More than you’d think! The basics are simple – clean white paper, clean kitchen foil, newspapers, magazines, etc. But here are a few that aren’t so obvious:

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M&S Bag for Life drive

Simple, easy and kind on the wallet. That’s what every green drive should aim to be. You can’t expect people to change just by endlessly banging on at them about landfills or how even biodegradable waste just festers inside black plastic bags. Believe me, I’ve tried, and all you get is a sore throat.

So my hat be doffed to M&S, and its Plan A campaign. This month in Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Dorset and Gloucestershire, M&S is handing out free Bags for Life to customers. Then, from the beginning of February, it’ll start charging 5p for regular plastic bags (while the BfL go back to 10p). Cue punters abandoning the endless cycle of grabbing a new plastic bag with every lunchtime KitKat purchase. (Other chocolate bars are available)

Simple, easy and kind on the wallet.

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