Saving the Planet … or is it ?

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Potentially the definitive ‘Tea Room’ discussion

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Today’s e-Mail included this, from Waitrose:

[quote]

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Did you notice that the new 50p bags are conveniently not categorised as ‘bags for life’ like the old 10p jobs were ?

I wonder what they will do when someone requests a replacement for their old 10p bag ?

MichaelG.

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Edit: Apologies for the formatting error : I forgot to change it to plain text, and it has spilled-out of the column.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 13/09/2021 18:23:18

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

I'm not rich enough to shop in Waitrose, so it doesn't apply to me.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Here’s the text :

At the end of this month, we will be removing our 10p bags for life and introducing a new alternative. But we don’t want you to buy them, and here’s why.

Over the past decade, our vision has been to eliminate all unnecessary single-use plastic and, where possible, only use plastic where it can be reused, recycled or composted at home.

Increasingly, our research shows that our 10p bags for life, which were created with the purpose of being reused time and time again, are being used as single-use items, something that is having a damaging impact on our planet.

Naturally, we will be scrutinised for our decision to move to a new plastic bag when there are alternatives available deemed to be “more environmentally friendly”.

However, we have put an equal amount of scrutiny on ourselves in making this decision, which we believe offers the best solution possible – both for our customers and the environment.

Our new 50p bags are twice as durable, fully recyclable and made from 100% recycled content, which means less plastic is diverted to landfill and more post-consumer waste is repurposed. This is unlike other non-plastic alternatives that you may find elsewhere, which actually use significantly more energy to create, transport and may only be suitable for reuse a handful of times at most.

At the same time as removing 10p bags for life, we will also begin removing bags from all Waitrose deliveries and collections, a move that will save 40 million bags from being produced a year. For deliveries, this will coincide with our drivers being able to re-enter your home, saving you from any heavy lifting. If you’d prefer, our drivers will also happily help you pack your shopping into your own bags. You just need to have them at the ready.

For online orders placed for collection in-store, please also remember to bring your own bags. But don’t worry, if you forget or are caught unawares, we will of course be able to offer our new 50p bags as a last resort.

Our new durbags will be available in store only from 27 September. But please remember – we do not want you to buy them. We would much rather you bring your own bags if you have them, as this is the best way we can collectively work together to do the right thing and help save our planet.

[Frances IoMParticipant @francesiom58905]

Waterstones now charge 10p for a paper bag which seems to either be sheer profiteering or a sign their finances are poor – at one time Waitrose used cloth bags (still have one as spare bag in my car) which last for some time.

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

I better drive in my Range Rover down to Waitrose to stock up with a few, they can be handy for my 2 weeks holiday on an Indian ocean Island

Got to save the planet you know

[J HancockParticipant @jhancock95746]

In Belgium, the ONLY items the 'council' take away is household waste but NOT plastic bottles, steel/aluminium cans, glass, or cardboard /paper .

The nett result of this is massive waste of petrol/diesel every week by the residents taking their own car to the recycling centres.

Madness.

[speelwerkParticipant @speelwerk]

No need to save our planet, whatever we do it will be around another 5 billion years or so. Niko.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by J Hancock on 13/09/2021 19:28:55:

In Belgium, the ONLY items the 'council' take away is household waste but NOT plastic bottles, steel/aluminium cans, glass, or cardboard /paper .

The nett result of this is massive waste of petrol/diesel every week by the residents taking their own car to the recycling centres.

Madness.

.

Right in one

In the frenzy to ‘do the right thing’ we are losing sight of ‘Total Cost of Ownership’

MichaelG.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Wondering, if I wasn't now able to work from home, whether I would still be stuck on the M25 today …….. my pre-covid commute.

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

Posted by Bazyle on 13/09/2021 23:07:37:

Wondering, if I wasn't now able to work from home, whether I would still be stuck on the M25 today …….. my pre-covid commute.

I wonder how much additional pollution that lot caused today!

Edited By V8Eng on 13/09/2021 23:27:08

[pgk pgkParticipant @pgkpgk17461]

Apparently the CO2 footprint of a child in the west is 58.6 tonnes per year compared to less than 1 tonne in Malawi. Therefore I propose sending all our children to Malawi until they're adults – simples.

pgk

[Bo’sunParticipant @bosun58570]

Surely having a plastic bag all in one piece is better than a so called bio-degradable one that ends up in millions of tiny digestible fragments. After all, the tiny fragments are not going to just disappear immediately.

[J HancockParticipant @jhancock95746]

PGK What a brilliant idea, I doubt though if the Malawians would allow them in.

They 've trouble enough.

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

The propaganda has got half the kids thinking we're doomed

" Many of those questioned perceive that they have no future, that humanity is doomed, "

**LINK**

Puts me in mind of the Medieval Repent-or-you're-doomed bible stuff hundreds of years ago

Education only makes people more educated, it doesn't make them more sensible

Intruiging to watch how easily an agenda can manipulate society

The more things change… the more they stay the same

[Mike HurleyParticipant @mikehurley60381]

Back in late 50's I remember my mother having a strange contraption called a 'shopping bag'. This was reused thousands of times with no waste whatsoever ( made from some kind of material / canvas or similar), Now isn't that a clever idea?

She also used to send a hand written list to the high street coop and on Tuesdays, a chap would bring it all, carefully packed in cardboard boxes, on his push bike – proper grocery bikes with the big rack at the front as used by Granville in 'open all hours'. Yet again, no waste of fuel, no extra polution as per so called modern delivery! ( mind you, in all honesty I can't see that being very safe at all in modern traffic! )

I clearly remember this so well as she also used to include my 'Beano' and 'Dandy' comics in the order, so Tuesday was always a memorable day!

 

Edited By Mike Hurley on 14/09/2021 09:52:08

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Ady1 on 14/09/2021 09:19:15:

The propaganda has got half the kids thinking we're doomed

" Many of those questioned perceive that they have no future, that humanity is doomed, "

[…]

.

Whereas the basic truth is that we have ‘disrupted’ the stability of the climate [etc.] and we are most unlikely to find a way of reversing what has happened.

Instead of panicking [Greta Thunberg, Extinction Rebellion, et al] we need to be learning how to adapt

The numbers in this story lend emphasis to the scale of what has already happened: **LINK**

https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/scientists-ice-cores-glaciers-melt-b1919233.html

There is no ‘Rewind Button’ for change on that scale

But we shouldn’t be ‘doomed’ … We just need to throw our technology at the right challenges.

[ Note: Whining about Shell’s sponsorship of an exhibit is surely counter-productive ]

MichaelG.

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

There's a teensy paradox in the system

The more wealth we have the more garbage we buy and the more silly polluting stuff we do

So if we get rid of money and live like the Malawians then we'll be fine

[J HancockParticipant @jhancock95746]

As I found out in '63 , age 17 years, sitting on the steps of Heidelberg Jugendherberge , listening to a group of American students discussing the events of Oct '62 . We are all , only here today , because of a decision taken by a survivor of Stalingrad. , one Nikita Krushchev..

The last 59 years have been a bonus.

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

The future could well be a WW2 wartime rationing type of system to limit our consumption

Every day the global money pile grows bigger and bigger and bigger, it has no limit to its size

But the earths resources stay pretty much exactly the same

Every day the human race grows bigger and bigger too

We live in interesting times and decisions will need to be made

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 14/09/2021 09:57:49:

[…]

… We just need to throw our technology at the right challenges.

.

Around 2010, the Tea Room at the place I was working sported a big poster warning that leaving our Television on ‘standby’ wasted enough electricity to boil some ridiculously large amount of water.

I don’t remember the number, but it was totally unsubstantiated.

When I checked … My television consumed less than one Watt on standby

Go compute !!

MichaelG.

[Ian ParkinParticipant @ianparkin39383]

I believe the tv was a special Philips model which was on a special type of standby so it was “on” immediately …the greens jumped on this as typical of all tv’s

[John PParticipant @johnp77052]

Posted by Mike Hurley 14/09/2021 09:50:53

Back in late 50's I remember my mother having a strange contraption
called a 'shopping bag'. This was reused thousands of times with no
waste whatsoever ( made from some kind of material / canvas or
similar), Now isn't that a clever idea?

If you want to save the planet i suppose recycling and re-using
is the way forward.

[J HancockParticipant @jhancock95746]

Is that the 'last one' ?

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

I have been getting my shopping online from Waitrose for a while now and always opted for bags (the cheap white ones). When I had packed the shopping away they always went over the fence to my next door neighbour who used them to fill with all his home grown vegetables which then went to all his customers. I guess we are going to have to come up with another scheme now. I abhor plastic in the ocean but there is no excuse for letting it get that far. Nothing should be 'thrown away' but entrained in the waste stream where it can be either recycled or disposed of in a proper manner. Banning all plastics is a bit knee jerk to me.

regards Martin

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