To think that even I have a world where we know/accept we have too much single use plastic this is ridiculous?

[LoyaltyBonus]

First let me say I know I don't get it right, I I'm aware and I "try" but there's a long way to go. I think that's the case for all but the most saintly but we have to do "something".

A few weeks back I went to football as an away supporter at St Andrew's, Birmingham for a game v Coventry. This is relevant because I am used to L1 football but St Andrews usually host higher profile games - Coventry are ground sharing this season. Maybe this is standard practice higher up the leagues, but if so, that makes it even more ridiculous.

I was a warm day and I'd had some beer, as is the custom on away days so bought a (yes, I know, single use) bottle of water from a kiosk on the approach to the game. They wouldn't let me take it in. Not even empty so I could refill after the game. Maybe I should have seen it coming but I go all over the country watching football, sometimes they confiscate the lids, but never the drink.

By halftime I was very dry and having had quite enough beer I bought a bottle of (extortionately priced) water. Which they wouldn't let me have until they'd emptied it into a coke cup - the kind you get in Mcdonalds. Although they did ask if I needed a lid and a straw They were doing this with all soft drinks and the beer, actually.

Now, I understand that, misused, a plastic bottle can be a dangerous thing, although I'd dispute that there was any higher risk at this game than at any other public gathering and that the extra drinks sales are an unintended bonus, but surely if you're going to have this kind of policy you should at least have drinks on tap rather than buying everything in in individual plastic bottles?

It’s been this way for at least 20 years. You can take the bottle usually but without a lid.

www.skysports.com/football/news/11688/11595601/west-midlands-police-investigating-after-bottles-thrown-on-to-pitch-at-birmingham#page-nav

I expect it has something to do with this bottle throwing incident.

Lots of companies could do a lot more. I had to stop myself going off on a long rant in M&S last night because I had some stuff to return and on the returns paperwork, it said to package up the items and take them to the shop and they would then return the items by courier to a central facility to deal with.

So I go up to the returns counter, where the man opened both bags, removed the items from the packaging and put the stuff on the hanger, so I had totally wasted my time packing up the items to return. I did take back the mailing sacks as I can reuse them for ebay or as rubbish bags, but all the other packaging went into the instore recycling.

If their paperwork actually reflected that they worked in this way, I would have kept the bags in better condition for my own use and taken the stuff back to the shop in a reuseable bag.

But on the OPs point, there needs to be more drinks in cans than plastic bottles and more free water fountains, but festivals and other events don't allow non plastic reuseable bottles because some idiots can't be trusted not to use them as weapons.

@barbaraofseville Ive taken a metal refillable water bottle to every festival I've worked in the last 5 years which is about 160 festivals.

At football grounds plastic bottles are also a safety risk. If they get underfoot in an emergency evacuation they can literally be lethal. So I think on this one it’s understandable and acceptable. You may be too young to remember Bradford, Heysel and Hilllsborough, but I am not.