In Ireland, 65 per cent of packaging waste is recycled. But why is so much of our food overpackaged, why is so much recycled overseas – and what ever happened to bringing bottles back to the shop?
IRISH PEOPLE have taken to recycling in a big way, with figures showing that we are now recycling 65 per cent of our waste packaging – but the question is, are we producing too much unnecessary packaging in the first place? A few weeks ago I sat in a Dublin car park waiting to pick up a friend. While I waited, I couldn’t help but notice the continuous stream of cars arriving at the nearby bottle bank. As people hurled in their jars and bottles, I thought, hang on a minute, whatever happened to the green mantra of “reduce, reuse, recycle”? Most of those bottles are reusable, yet we throw them away or recycle them and the consumer keeps paying for new ones.
Like many people, I am now the proud owner of three large colour-coded bins. I visit the bottle bank and the clothing bank, and when all else fails, I send other stuff to the tip or the bring centre. And that’s only the outdoor bit. I have a four-section bin in my kitchen that bulges at the end of each day and I have a container for bottles at my back door.
There are two adults and one small person in our house. We generate a huge amount of rubbish largely on the basis of excess – food/household packaging which we have no control over. I grew up in a family of four children and two adults and we had one bin and produced considerably less rubbish than I do. Butter came in foil paper, water came out of the tap, the butcher wrapped meat in paper and courgettes did not come in a plastic three-pack. Today everything is prewrapped and prepackaged, and unless you can afford to shop at a farmer’s market, there is little choice about any of this.
While it is of course wonderful to think that we are saving the planet and reducing CO2 emissions by recycling rather than putting our rubbish into giant landfill sites, the real question is this: what is eco-friendly about transporting our rubbish halfway around the world to China and Asia for recycling. Surely it is no more than common sense to tackle the manufacturers to ensure that they don’t overload the consumer with unnecessary packaging? By doing this we could dramatically reduce the amount of waste that we produce – and in addition the consumer will no longer be paying for packaging that they neither need nor want.
To develop the market for recyclables, the government established the Market Development Group (MDG) in 2004. The Market Development Programme for Waste Resources Action Plan 2009 states that “the majority of waste collected in Ireland for recycling is exported for reprocessing”. In effect, this means a large portion of the contents of your green bin is shipped to the other side of the world for recycling. If the recycling took place at home, it would create jobs and make for more self-sufficiency for an island nation such as Ireland.
The latest report from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for 2007 indicates that paper and cardboard are exported to India and China. Plastic is exported to Asia, including China, while metal is exported only to China. According to a spokesperson for the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government, the Minister, John Gormley, is discussing packaging with the retail sector but no comprehensive agreement has yet been reached.
A COUPLE OF months ago I was in a supermarket in south Dublin when an elderly gentleman with a grey beard, a twinkle in his eye and a canary yellow jacket was busily ripping the packaging from most of his shopping. He packed the unpackaged goods into his shopping bags, left all the unwanted cardboard and plastic at the check-out and off he went.
There is no real virtue in recycling items that can be reused like glass and no merit in recycling unnecessary packaging that is ultimately shipped abroad. The onus is on the producer and retailer to deliver a 21st century solution.
Alternative ideas: What we need to change
BEER BOTTLESshould be returned to off-licences for re-use, and customers allowed credit of around 10 cent per bottle as is the case in other countries.
WINE BOTTLESshould also be returned to where they were purchased, for refilling and relabelling. The customer who paid for the glass bottle in the first place should also get a credit.
YOGHURTS/PROBIOTIC DRINKSshould be presented in cardboard tubs and not in rigid plastic containers.
CEREALSdo not need to be encased in large cardboard boxes. A paper bag should be more than adequate.
BISCUITSdon't need a rigid plastic separator inside the plastic covering.
SOFT FRUITSsuch as strawberries and raspberries are packed in large plastic boxes with lids. They should be left open to breathe in cardboard cartons.
MILKand
JUICEScome in recyclable cartons, but how many cartons does the average family get through per week? Glass bottles can be re-used hundreds of times
Why are there no cardboard alternatives?
WATERand
MINERALSare all presented in plastic bottles that range from lightweight to industrial thickness. Until biodegradable plastic bottles hit the market, many of these products should be packaged in glass that is returned and reused rather than crunched up and recycled.
MEATsold by most supermarkets is presented in rigid plastic boxes or trays. Shrink-wrapping is a better alternative.
SALAD BARSoffer only plastic boxes in most supermarkets.
FRUITsuch as oranges and apples are regularly prepacked by the multiples in rigid plastic containers. If they need to be grouped, a net bag should suffice.
VEGETABLESsold by the multiples are increasingly presented in plastic trays or boxes covered by plastic bags. Such packaging should not be allowed. Loose produce allows the customer to choose the volume they want
DAIRY SPREADSare uniformly packaged in plastic boxes.
DELIfood such as olives are usually served in rigid plastic boxes. Markets all around the country package olives and sun dried tomatoes in a single plastic bag with a knot at the top.
READY MEALSare a major waste of packaging. Not only do they contain a plastic box with a lid, they have a cardboard sleeve.
SANDWICHESare still being sold all over the country in triangular plastic boxes which are a total waste of packaging.
CLEANING PRODUCTSsuch as bleach and washing-up liquid are almost exclusively presented in thick plastic bottles.
