Packaging Problems

Sure, there's a lot of needless packaging that's filling up Britain's landfill sites quickly, but please, can we have a little perspective?

In Tesco, I pick up fresh cod, bacon, chicken, parmesan, and brie, ignoring the strange look I get when I ask if each item can each be wrapped in just one piece of plastic instead of the layers they usually use.

My basket is looking in good shape but a couple more hours wandering around the aisles puts paid to the idea that this challenge is going to be easy.

Many of the items on my list — milk, yoghurt, juice, cleaning products, toiletries, tea, biscuits, bread and cereals — prove impossible to buy without some kind of packaging.

She's seriously complaining that you have to buy milk and fruit juice in a container? And package-free washing liquid is also on her want list.

As a Northern girl I can't start the day without a cuppa, but unpackaged tea and milk prove hard to buy.

You don't say! Gee, I wonder why on Earth that is? Hmm, let me think about that for a while...

At the end of the day she decides that a recyclable package is okay- so in comes the milkman. And then, after much musing about how terrible it is that supermarkets just aren't doing enough gosh-darn-it, we come to this gem-

So will I be sticking to my new regime and giving up packaging for good?

I'm afraid the answer is no.

Shopping like this takes time, far more than would be feasible every week, and I've discovered that a comprehensive family shop is impossible without any packaging at all.

Especially with all those pesky liquids!

In short, convenience comes at a certain cost and at the end of the day even she isn't prepared to put herself out that much to do her bit to stop those landfills from being, well, filled. The moral of the story seems to be that doing a lot to be green is dashed inconvenient and more expensive so just carry on putting rubbish that can be recycled into the recycling bin.

Journalists- is there anything they can't teach us?