13 May, 2008
· Filed under Culture, Green · Tagged baked beans, eazy beanzy, food blindness, heinz, snap pots, time blindness
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.
“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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28 February, 2008
· Filed under Change, Culture, Green · Tagged packaging, recycling, responsibility, supermarket, waitrose, what can i recycle
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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13 February, 2008
· Filed under Culture · Tagged eazy beanzy, heinz madness, I try not to rant but this is too much
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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13 February, 2008
· Filed under Activism, Green · Tagged builders, eco, Green, hippie!, velvet activism
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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6 February, 2008
· Filed under Culture, Green, Knowledge · Tagged cafe, Green, pret, pret a manger, recycling
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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29 January, 2008
· Filed under Activism, Culture · Tagged dom joly, fare strike, fgw, trains
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.
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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25 January, 2008
· Filed under Green, Knowledge · Tagged coffee cups, Green, pret a manger, recycling
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?
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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20 January, 2008
· Filed under Green, Knowledge · Tagged recycling, writing
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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17 January, 2008
· Filed under Change, Green, Knowledge · Tagged clever, Green, m&s, plastic bags
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.
16 January, 2008
· Filed under Green · Tagged about, eco, Green
…Aside from being a self-indulgent lexical mashup, that is.
I’m trying to live green. To be as environmentally friendly as possible. I’m also trying to solve pressing problems like “What the hell do I do with this leftover paper soup cup?”, “How can I compost when I don’t have a garden?” and “Who’s going to stop the buggers who let their dogs poo outside my front door?”.
But living green isn’t easy. Not because it’s a lot of effort – it’s more a matter of habit than anything else. But because, unless you’re a bit of an ecowarrior, the whole task of making your life greener can seem pretty confusing. I know what I can stick in my recycling box, but does everyone else? And, actually, sometimes I don’t know what I can and can’t stick in my box.
So, since I’m too gentle to be an ecowarrior and too fond of cups of tea and biscuits to be a Swampy-esque frontline activist, I’m an econaut. The Econaut, if you like. An explorer in the world of going green. (And the less appealing world of stopping dog mess being left on doorsteps). And if you’re nice, I’ll bring you back a souvenir.
