Things that make bin slimming difficult!

As I go through the rubbish diet I am attempting to make a list of things that I need to try and avoid buying because of their packaging.

Black plastic !

Please tell me why supermarkets are selling stuff in black plastic trays? We cannot recycle them in Shropshire - even the most modern. sophisticated plastics separation facility can't do anything with black trays!! So why is stuff still sold in them? Are the black trays cheaper to produce? Does the food look better on a black tray?

No more Tresemme
The biggest shame is that I can't buy my favourite Tresemme shampoo any more even though it comes in a good quality plastic bottle - because it is black it is ending up in landfill.

Tresemme please could you use purple bottles instead?

Polystyrene Pizzas

My kids are often going off to play something involving a ball and a stick in the evenings and by the time I get home from work sometimes the only answer to avoid mass starvation is a quick pizza. So I whip a couple out of the freezer ready to whack them in the oven - only to find a devious layer of polystyrene inside the innocuous cardboard box......  Does anyone know where I can buy ready made pizzas that don't have hidden polystyrene?

Crisps and chocolate foil lined packaging

This is the toughest one to avoid in my house - with a barrage of teenage boys who despite my best efforts would still live on junk food if they could. We do buy basic tortilla chips because these come in clear plastic that I take back to Sainsburys.

The fact that Terracycle are collecting biscuit wrappers is making a difference to my list of stuff to avoid - but I really do need to tackle my chocolate habit!


 Wouldn't it be great if we could find a way that forces non-recyclable packaging out of the loop?

Perhaps, there should be a disposal surcharge on products if their packaging is non-recyclable to discourage food companies from using it.

Perhaps, supermarkets could start to refuse to sell products which come in non-recyclable packaging....

Another idea would be for supermarkets to provide the facility to take back all their own packaging.... all the bring banks in the car park are a good start - but if supermarkets had to find recycling and disposal routes for all the packaging they sold - they would soon start to only sell things wrapped in stuff that is easy and cheap to handle. Oh for a joined up World...

Would love to hear how you manage to avoid difficult materials

Ali