Unfortunately consumers like good packaging

On the Today Programme this morning was an item about the Environment Agency and how most household rubbish is actually made up of packaging. Easter eggs are 80% packaging (I had never really considered this, but it’s true when you think about it). So why doesn’t Parliament pass a law obliging producers to have a process in place for the recycling of their packaging, and advertise this process on the packaging itself?

The presumption should be: unless a packaging component can be easily recycled, the designers don’t put it into the packaging specification in the first place. Instead of consumers chucking discarded packaging into a catch-all recycling dustbin and hoping for the best, the producers would have responsibility for collecting and disposing of it (would ultimately reduce our Council Tax bills?). I think Germany has a variation of this sort of law.



Above: I looked at the packaging of ethical food manufacturer Innocent, but couldn’t see much specific advice about recycling. Tetra Pack are aiming at a measly 10% of their products being recycled (a fig-leaf to cover any exposure to criticism presumably). Tetra Pack seem to think the consumer should make the most effort over recycling, and that once they have sold the product it’s out of their hands. The Tetra Pack is made of a waxed card, so not sure how this would break down when recycled. The colour printing would probably involve producing dioxins. I’m not picking on Innocent / Tetra Pack specifically – it’s just an example.

I went through a phase when I was drinking smoothies every day, but now I only buy them once a week. Almost always pineapple, banana and coconut. I like the taste of sweet coconut – including Bounty Bars and Malibu.




Above: unfortunately consumers like good packaging, and products won’t sell if they are not enticingly wrapped. The packaging around my iPod was so attractive that I photographed it and carefully put it on one side to keep (until I realised how foolish I was being, and crushed it up and put it in the bin). I wonder if there are any products that consist entirely of packaging?



Above: the outer sea wall guards the flood plain.

While I am on the subject of the Environment Agency, down on the plain friends are getting demands from their insurance companies for flood assessment reports which they have to BUY from the Environment Agency for £20. Even though their property is protected by sea walls and has no history of flooding (would actually be the last place in the country to flood, since the defences are so good). When they get the Flood Report they then get another demand from the insurance company for a flood defence report which they will also have to pay for. Presumably the insurance companies will then increase their premiums. This whole process sounds like a gigantic scam. Either the Environment Agency is a public service and their advice is free. Or it should be a private company (competing with other private companies) and we just pay for their services when (and if) we think we need them. But to have a publicly funded body colluding with insurance companies over extorting money from householders is unacceptable. Most of the farmers on the plain can afford to pay for the reports, but there are many retired people down there who will be frightened by these demands (and the cruel implication that they won’t get insurance cover unless they pay up).