January 6th - Food Packaging and the Recycled Home

Dear Nigel,

I write this letter to you sitting knee-deep in a heap of clean rubbish. It is clean because i have washed it, and it sits, imploring me to make yet another journey out into the cold because i am a good citizen who recycles their paper, cardboard, plastics, glass - whatever they will take away. And that is my current problem. The council has suddenly decided that cardboard is no longer welcome in the green bins and must be placed in a flimsy blue plastic bag with an open end. Great idea whoever thought that one up. We've had storms this week and the town is looking like something from an earlier era when we had things like Bin men striikes. Walking my children up to school we were met by a high playing field fence lined with cardboard boxes of all sizes and shapes.

 I hadn't realised until this recent development how little recycling is paper, envelopes etc. and how much is cardoard - pizza boxes, sleeves round dips, boxes of cheese, biscuits,cereal packets etc. I started to think where i might be able to make changes to reduce packaging but came to the conclusion that these were already eco- changes by some of the companies involved - cardboard is at least biodegradable. Rachel's yoghurts come in carboard pots not plastic, as does my local Hillybilly Ice Cream. And others have followed suit. Just wish the council would make it easier for everyone to recycle. I note a huge drop in the number of Recycling Bins outside. As one person (who shall remain nameless) said to me: "I haven't got the time to break up cardboard boxes, so i'm going back to putting it all in the Dustbin." Not a good sign.
I see you're choosing a TV supper tonight of Grilled mushrooms "slathered with some of that garlicky French cream cheese from the corner shop". Did your mushrooms come in a blue plastic tray like mine do? That would be a visit to the recycling bank at Morrison's car park then for plastics, and the cardboard cheese tray into the blue bag. The red wine you might choose to chase it down with would go in the green box for glass, the plastic film over the mushrooms into the Black Rubbish Bin and the Newspaper you might be currently reading, into the Green Bin. And all for the sake of just one meal.

Yours from the top of Mount Everest,

Martha