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

[duchesse]

...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?

Great efforts duchesse and very brave but I think you should direct your protests towards un degradable packaging, such as 4 apples wrapped in cellophane on a polystyrene tray rather than the cardboard box on a pack of washing tabs at least its cardboard. How else are you supposed to buy them? loose? Why can't the apples be in cardboard trays, why can't they go back to paper bags at the veg counter instead of all those little plastic bags? They to me are the things that need changing and it wouldn't be that hard for supermarkets to adopt and of course, the use of plastic bags, some people take home 10 every week just from food shopping and most of those go straight in the bin. Are people aware that alot of supermarkets now have a special bag recycling bin near the door, for people to take them back the next week at least that saves them from landfil.

I just wonder what will happen in xxx years when time team do an excavation dig and find all sorts of plastic crap buried in our soil in the same condition it went in in, very sad.

Good for you!!!! Very brave. Have you contacted Tesco head office about the possibility of installing recycling bins at the tills or at the fruit and veg section so that they can remove the unwanted packaging?

good for you
did you get in the local (recycled) paper?

hey I understand the whole tesco thing you know

but I'm still failing to see how this grass roots protest affects the buyers at head office or the manufacturers .. the only people you've pissed off are the bloke who has to ditch the rubbish, the manager of the store, who will probably send a memo, and a few customers standing behind you

Didn't the chicken leak out? I think I would have chosen to do the same as the loo roll girl

Hats off to you though!!

Oh wow

I really like this idea - I wish I could do this locally (not enought time atm - but maybe soon)

But would you actually buy loo roll from the shelves if it were not in a package of some sort?

oh god i LOVE this idea

jan its only going to wipe your arse isnt it

The Asda in Carlisle where my mum shops has the facility to recycle plastcis such as yoghurt pots, cream tubs, coleslaw tubs, meat etc. I wish more councils would offer this facility.
I end up filling my bin with plastics from those things as the only plastic i can put in my recycle bin is plastic bottles. I can also put cardboard, paper, tins and metal lids in. I don't put much papaer in though as we aren't allowe dto shre or rip it, so it could be a potential case of ID fraud.
I think it was good what you organised, but making people more aware might have been better, rather than just holding up say a busy mum needing to get home to put the dinner on.

Loo rolls used to be wrapped in paper - much greener

I would get involved in a protest like this,well done!

I would love to do this.

I don't understand why shops that claim to be "green" hand out plastic bags automatically. I take a variety of snazzy bags on my shopping trips - not just groceries - everywhere!

duchesse, many local papers would run an article if you pretty much wrote it for them about what happened - you could mention the lack of response from the MP to make it more 'news worthy'

about 50% of rubbish is domestic, but so much of it is forced upon us by the food providers. There are ways of getting food on shelves without the huge amount of packagin, but they involve more people to lift/carry the food, so that means it cost more to transport food that way!

clarice - i think we're just about the only country that does hand out plastic bags willy nilly! even in the us it's more normal to take your own

I do my own individual action against packaging (in a limited way, I admit)

I don't buy fruit & veg in Tesco (or Asda, Sainsbury's, Morrison's etc). I buy from local greengrocer or other local outlets, loose and I put them in a reusable bag that I take with me.

I recommend it.

i'm not sure i fully understand...you went to tesco and stood at a checkout removing packaging from people...all packaging? even cardboard and bidegradable? then you left it at tesco for them to dispose of in landfill anyway?

tesco don't produce all the packaging its the suppliers ie del monte or persil or whoever

MOM I think the idea is to get Tesco to use it's corporate pressure to reduce packaging, it's certainly not too shy to use it to raise it's own profits by all accounts!

How interesting, I mentioned to dh a while back about doing a similar thing (in the UK not here in Lagos where they insist on wrapping my goods in a plastic bag before putting it into my reusable ).

Dh did read of some women somewhere who unwrap their shopping in the car park and leave trolleys full of packing to be disposed of, though tbh, I don't really see the publicity aspect of that.

shithouse that i am the leaving in trolley thing appeals to me - esp when new regs come in ( as we KNOW they are bound to in local authority areas where they haven't already) limiting the amount of rubbish that is taken away.

duchesse..fantastic!

and great quote too!

the food packaging we have is over excessive and needs to be changed and this is something that grass roots action can do, i beleive..

if tesco, sainsburys, asda, whoever became so pissed off with this it would get through to the major food people (northern foods etc..) to cut it out at source

the extra work it involves for everyone atm carting it all home, sorting, half of it doesnt qualify to be recycled, taking it there or it being collected and sorted and recycled..JUST STOP IT AT SOURCE it seems so simple

with supermarkets and shops fighting for green / organic credentials (m&S fairtrade cotton, sainsburys gave away bags for life recently) atm it seems ideal time to strike...

i shop in small independants, who refill washing liquid etc.. local fish mongers, great market nearby, but do have to go in for milk and other stuff at supermarket..and do realise this is not an option for lots of folk ...am sahm though and can do this around nursery and normal life..!

if you are looking for ways of encouraging other perhaps someone could say loudly what you are doing and why, mentioning the increasing taxes we are paying for rubbish removal etc..

good luck and i will be joining you!
is there a web site or ought?

I LOATHE packaging and well done for organising an 'event'.

The secondary packaging of multi-packs could easily be dispensed with by suppliers. E.g. baked beans - just reduce the price for each subsequent tin going through the checkout. Ditto juices. It's not rocket science but it needs bringing home to manufacturers that we don't want extra rubbish on our planet or indeed in our bins. If it takes demos at supermarkets for this to be noticed then I'm all for it.

About the chickens though - if you don't like packaging use your local butcher

yeeha...lets have a PACK OFF...!!!

all on the same day!

consumers of the world, depackage!

I know it's all about being green, but for the people who can't see further ahead than dinnertime, I think making a big point about the amount it all costs us with taxes etc, is the way to make the majority think "ooh, yeah, this is costing us more, maybe we should do something"- many people HATE parting with their own money, but when it comes to our grandchildren's living environment..."well, I wont be around to see it, will I?"... it's a large case of "out of sight, out of mind"!!

hats off to duchesse