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Original poster

Did an "unwrapping" event at our local Tesc0 yesterday afternoon...

72 replies

duchesse · 30/09/2007 08:12

...and got a very interesting set of reactions.

From the store manager: "We've tolerated your protest so far..." (implication being- we won't for too much longer) and genuinely taken aback: "Surely you're not going to leave your rubbish here?"

From the trolley picking up guy, as he removed the 6 trolley loads of waste packaging our ten households removed in just half an hour: "They're just a bunch of hypocrites, leaving their rubbish for us to take away. It's not my fault (grumble grumble grumble... as he drove the waste round the back to put into the general skip)

From a guy in the queue behind me: " You're doing because you just don't give a shit and you want to make a point."

Very eye-opening. We concentrated on three particular checkouts, at the end of which was a stack of their greener living magazine, that actually contained articles about reducing packaging!

My friend wants to do it all again next month, but I think we should modify the format a little so as not to piss off the other people in queue, and try to bring them on board. Any ideas?

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Trinityrhino · 30/09/2007 08:16

interesting idea
What is the message though
I know that there is too much packaging on everything but how is dumping it at the checkoiut to piss off the supermarket going to help to change that?
I'm genuinely asking by the way.

Threadworm · 30/09/2007 08:20

Brave!
Could you call in the localnewspaper to make the protest more effective. I can see people would be annoyed at the inconvenienceif they thought the protest wasn't arranged in a powerful enough way to make an impact

Original poster
duchesse · 30/09/2007 08:22

The idea is to shift the focus for disposal from the consumer to the producer of the waste. At the moment, we pay for that disposal through our taxes, and much of what even avid recyclers put into household waste is plastic- either unrecyclable or not recycled by our local council. The big food producers have a lot more clout in steering packaging, but while we continue to meekly take it all home (and how much choice de we really have about what things are wrapped in?) they can safely ignore the problem of disposal.

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Original poster
duchesse · 30/09/2007 08:24

My friend called:

The local media, the local MP (who is very hot on packaging), the local branches of Friend of the Earth and Greenpeace. F of the E turned up, the local newspaper apparently ran an article on Friday, but didn't report on the actual event, the MP didn't respond.

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PodPast · 30/09/2007 08:24

in german supermarkets there are bins at the end of the checkouts and shoppers are welcome to leave all their packaging behnd. you do the removing once you've paid. You also bring your own containers with you and present them to the deli counter to fill up.

MegaVegLech · 30/09/2007 08:26

what a great idea. I would get headbutted if I tried that in my local Tesco's.

I asked for pesto once and was laughed at. I didn't have the bottle to ask if they had tahini.

Threadworm · 30/09/2007 08:28

Good for you. Then the protest has been quite effective, and the questionis how to bring on board the people in the queue behind you.

Hmm. Are there any green freebies that FofE could hand out? Probably not I suppose, since freebies are a tad wasteful.

Wish I had the nerve to do this.

Original poster
duchesse · 30/09/2007 08:28

To be honest, there were so many extra pairs of unwrapping hands on board (a whole bunch of preteenagers) that delaying the people behind wasn't much of an issue. I can't imagine they waited more than 5 extra minutes, but even that was too much.

The German system is very very much more enlightened than ours. In Canada you can go to certain shops with your own containers as well. I remember buying honey and many dry goods in our own containers. In France one of the major food retailers, Lerclerc, has not handed out plastic bags for about 15 years.

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Trinityrhino · 30/09/2007 08:29

right I get it now
I think you need to be alot more active in showing the other customers what its all about
Have placards showing what you just said to me about taxes and so forth
State the amount of rubbish that we are 'forced' to take home that ends up in landfill because there isn't enough recycing
that kind of thinig
I would join in with you if it was organised more like that

Original poster
duchesse · 30/09/2007 08:30

Mega- I think it's probably safer to do it numbers in the UK... at the tahini and pesto...

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Threadworm · 30/09/2007 08:31

Do you remember when Brit supermarket used to leave piles of old cardboard boxes at the front of the shop for us to pack our goods in -- i.e. instead of plastic bags.

I wonder whether it is just fire regs that stops them doing this now?

I think plastic bags should be outlawed.

Original poster
duchesse · 30/09/2007 08:34

Actually our S@insbury's still does that- I usually get old boxes if I don't have my bags, and use them as mulch or fire-starters in the woodburner. (this is the countryside)

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Threadworm · 30/09/2007 08:42

Oh. So not illegal. Why the bloody hell don't they all do it then. Grrr.

I'm not very good at being green. I do a bit, but not enough, ifyswim. And that's how so many people are.

So, in this area, I want a nanny state: I want the law to impose solutions -- by controlling pacakging etc.

Original poster
duchesse · 30/09/2007 08:46

tbh, everybody doing a bit is a lot more effective than just a few people doing a lot. The numbers soon add up.

I can't remember the exact statistic but it was something along the line of: if everybody turned their machines (tv, radio, computer etc...) off standby when not in use, we could do away with the need for one extra nuclear power station. But have you noticed that most modern machines now have to be switched off at the wall to be truly off? It's mad.

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roisin · 30/09/2007 08:51

Duchesse,
I admire you for your courage - wow!

Can I ask the practicalities of exactly what you removed in terms of packaging.
Was it just secondary packaging like the cardboard box of the Cornflakes? and the carboard round a box of yoghurts?
Or did you bring Tupperware boxes to decant things into?

Threadworm · 30/09/2007 08:53

The only way I'm really green is composting. I love it -- so satisfying

Tottie32 · 30/09/2007 09:07

i really admire what you have done....

like roisin i would like to know what was removed

good for you

hatwoman · 30/09/2007 09:18

for your second one how about collecting packaging from other customers outside the shop after they have paid? and offering to take it to the dump for them? you won;t be delaying anyone, you get the chance to engage them (most will share your concerns). you could call Tesco's ahead of time and request a meeting with them to discuss your concerns, call the local paper and get them to take photos of the xxx trollies you have filled in a single hour...

Original poster
duchesse · 30/09/2007 09:22

Out of the 10 households, there was a wide spectrum of removal. Some people removed only secondary packaging. The more hardcore and bloody-minded brought tupperware boxes with them. The only thing we brought home in its original packaging was the milk. We managed to convince one of the other girls that she didn't need the box that her (wrapped) laundry tablets came in, nor the bag holding her loo rolls. We decanted chickens into a box, the friend organising it did the same with her chicken breasts, but the loo roll girl kept her meat in its original packaging. It was an individual decision how much to remove.

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FrannyandZooey · 30/09/2007 09:23

I would have a large placard saying what you are planning to do, so that anyone joining the queue after you has warning that you are going to be slow

I would also hand out leaflets and chocolate to interested passersby and people being inconvenienced

littlerach · 30/09/2007 09:23

I think that is a good stance to have made.

I won't shop at Tesco, but dh does tend to pop in on his way home of he needs somehting.

Example this week of their crappiness (IMHO, of course) - he bought organic free range eggs. They aren't packed in cardboard boxes anymore, no, they are in plastic.
Bloody stupid really.

Twiglett · 30/09/2007 09:24

don't understand how this protest affects the producers at all

now perhaps arranging a protest whereby all packaging is removed in a public place, sorted by manufacturer and then shipped back to the producers and left on their doorsstep with media coverage on both sides of teh event would make sense

but really in this instance, without the media coverage, you're just pissing off the middlemen and the other customers and I fail to see any benefit from it

or am I being dumb through lack of sleep .. perhaps you only targeted own brand .. now that'd make sense

Original poster
duchesse · 30/09/2007 09:28

Twiglett- Tesc0 are customers of the other brands as well, but obviously MUCH larger customers than any of us individually. We can all see the impact that a company like Tesco can have through their appalling compaction of prices paid to food producers, so why do they not choose to put it GOOD use rather than bad? (Rhetorical question: we all know the answer.)

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MegaVegLech · 30/09/2007 10:18

Sorry to change the subject but

" We decanted chickens into a box, the friend organising it did the same with her chicken breasts, but the loo roll girl kept her meat in its original packaging."

Gets me quote of the week. Dynamite! ]grin]

Original poster
duchesse · 30/09/2007 10:29

Thank you dahlink!

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