"Sacha" wrote after
"Tim C." wrote:
Following up to "'Mike'"
Don't you think I have tried? Only to be told by the shop assistant,
"We
have to do that and we have to put the receipt inside the bag to prove
you
have purchased it and you have not shop lifted it"

I've done it often in the UK, no problem whatsoever.

So have I, but it is not the norm. The norm is as I have stated.

"your mileage might vary", as they say.

Actually, all you have to do is say "I don't want the bag, thank you" and
take the receipt which is proof of purchase, not the bag. Anyone could
have
bags stashed in their pockets if that's all you needed to show you'd
actually paid for goods. My pet peeve is that cling wrap stuff around
bananas and avocados, which already come with their own nature-given
wrapping! Why, in heaven's name do 'they' DO that?!


I often wondered why supermarkets use so much packaging until I recently saw
a well dressed middle aged lady picking up produce, inspecting it, and then
throwing it back, and I do mean throwing. The broccoli head exploded as it
hit the others in the box and goodness knows what the avocado was like when
she finished with it. I've also seen a number of people throwing produce
into their trolleys lately and then compounding it by throwing heavy stuff
on top, they seem incapable of placing anything gently, just too damn lazy
perhaps or conned into thinking they have a busy and demanding life.

--
Regards
Bob H
17mls W. of London.UK

Bob Hobden writes
I often wondered why supermarkets use so much packaging until I
recently saw a well dressed middle aged lady picking up produce,
inspecting it, and then throwing it back, and I do mean throwing. The
broccoli head exploded as it hit the others in the box and goodness
knows what the avocado was like when she finished with it. I've also
seen a number of people throwing produce into their trolleys lately and
compounding it by throwing heavy stuff on top, they seem incapable of
placing anything gently, just too damn lazy perhaps or conned into
thinking they have a busy and demanding life.

Both our local supermarkets compound the problem by placing their fruit
and veg near the entrance, so either you are constantly rearranging your
load to keep them at the top, or you pick up the heavies first and then
struggle against the flow to get back to the veg.
--
Kay

On 25/1/07 17:59, in article , "K"
wrote:

Bob Hobden writes
I often wondered why supermarkets use so much packaging until I
recently saw a well dressed middle aged lady picking up produce,
inspecting it, and then throwing it back, and I do mean throwing. The
broccoli head exploded as it hit the others in the box and goodness
knows what the avocado was like when she finished with it. I've also
seen a number of people throwing produce into their trolleys lately and
compounding it by throwing heavy stuff on top, they seem incapable of
placing anything gently, just too damn lazy perhaps or conned into
thinking they have a busy and demanding life.

Both our local supermarkets compound the problem by placing their fruit
and veg near the entrance, so either you are constantly rearranging your
load to keep them at the top, or you pick up the heavies first and then
struggle against the flow to get back to the veg.

Don't all supermarkets do that? I don't think I've ever been to an ordinary
supermarket that doesn't have all that 'healthy' stuff at the entrance. I
know they're arranged on some psychological factor or other but I'm assuming
that the veg near the front is to make you feel that you're doing a 'good
thing' by shopping for your family at that store. The essentials like meat
and bread and fish are at the back of the store, thus luring you further and
further in. Apart from the Tesco superstore at Lee Mill, near Plymouth,
which has electrical and household goods to your right immediately as you
enter and the fruit & veg stuff a little over to your left, I don't know of
another variation.
As to the light/heavy stuff, again it's something everyone moans about. You
get all the squashy stuff at the beginning and at the end of the shop you
pick up bottles of wine or water etc. and then when you unload the trolley
and reload your car everything simply repeats itself. The supermarket
experience is horrible but I will say that when I order online, I spend a
lot less than I do when I visit personally. I can't help thinking that one
day they're going to figure that out.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/
(remove weeds from address)

Wow, I am truly surprised at the response my inital post has generated. From the rejection of plastic bags to the cost of manufacturing white goods.

My struggle with all of this is still that what I do at home won't have an impact whilst China is depositing all that waste into the environment.

But even though I do struggle with that issue I still do my best to make the right decisions.

However the biggest impact I can make is in the business environment. I run a couple of businesses and we are starting to look at the ways we can reduce the waste that the company generates.

1) We use pallets, these are reused. Every time we build up 300 used pallets they get collected and we get a small amount back that covers the man power and storage costs of saving the pallets. I know many other companies that have a bonfire and burn their used pallets as it isn't financially worth saving them.

2) Many products come packed in multiples that then need to be broken down before being sold. This results in waste boxes. Where possible (and in most cases) we reuse these boxes to send other product back out to customers via couriers. This save us money and also allows the box to be reused. Where a box cannot be reused it is recycled. We use to have problems getting rid of the boxes. The local tip would not recycle them as they are business waste (explain that). We have now found a company that provides a skip that we fill. They take the cardboard and recycle it. We don't get a penny but its great that they get recycled.

3) All our computers and electrics are turned off at night. Nothing is left on standby. We had a power cut recently (after the high winds) and we managed to run the entire business off a small generator.

4) We make product selection based on the suppliers ethics where possible. We have just chosen our water butt supplier based on the fact that they are now manufactured in the UK. Its great that they are coming in at the same price as the imported alternative.

5) We are also now looking at ways we can reduce the other packaging methods that we are using. We need to use less bubble wrap to protect products. For around £4k we can purchase an industrial cardboard shredder. It will allow us to turn the cardboard that we do recycle at the moment directly into packing material. We will therefore use less bubble and the shredded cardboard can be either recycled by the consumer or composted.

6) By the very nature of our business we only sell well made reliable products. We couldn't sell poor low quality products and still operate. All our items get delivered to customer via a courier so if it fails it become very costly the get the product uplifted and a new one delivered. A product failure rate has to be under 4%. If its greater than this then we withdraw that product. You would be surprised at a couple of products that we withdrew last year. Made by one of the best know names in the UK, failure rate was too high, ends up it was made in a factory in Asia.

We are also looking at other measures and we have been looking at government grants but it doesn't appear to be an area that the government are rewarding at the moment.

Ainsley
www.garden4less.co.uk

On 25 Jan, 22:36, garden-addicted garden-addicted.
wrote:
However the biggest impact I can make is in the business environment.

Check on this site. We've developed a tool kit for businesses/
organisations. The start is a series of lectures, followed by
workshops and then there will be individual 'challenges' kitted to
different organisations. You'll eventually find what you are looking
for for your own organisation. I'm interested at involving landlords
of current properties housing offices in old buildings/mills etc, in
our case for the complete renovation of the roof of our offices and
insulating our office to minimise the heat loss. It's a slow process
but together ... we can make lots of changes )

http://www.cooperatives-uk.coop/live/cme1122.htm

On Jan 30, 11:49 am, "La Puce" wrote:

Check on this site. We've developed a tool kit for businesses/
organisations. The start is a series of lectures, followed by
workshops and then there will be individual 'challenges' kitted to
different organisations. You'll eventually find what you are looking

I see URBED Manchester is involved no thanks anything that you with
your bad advice on gardening is involved in i will pass

and no advertising please

Hi Sacha,

I can tell you from my days in FMCG marketing, the reason the fruit and veg are placed near the door is the psychology of buying: once you start picking things up, apparently you are more likely to continue.

So, we are presented with fruit and veg which most people definitely want: we handle them, and this "gets us started" with handling and therefore buying stuff.

Previously, customers used to wander in, go round the shop until they reached the veg, and not make lots of lovely impulse buys on the way.

Fascinating stuff, huh.

And we all know about the lure of the in-house bakery to give all those lovely smells of baking, to make us hungry....

Can't agree more about the joys of on-line shopping, did it for the first time last month, it was easy, quick, efficient: but I wouldn't buy meat or veg that way. Assuming that their van is more fuel-efficient than my (ancient) car, I reckon it's better to have them deliver all my heavy stuff once a month, and I'll support my small shops for fruit and veg.

How does that sound?

Rachel