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Revolt Against Too Much Packaging!
With all the interest in using Green Bags, you would think someone would be taking a serious look at that the amount of packaging that things come in. Packaging is what objects come in to stop them getting damaged. It is the box that biscuits come in to the bottle that holds milk. So some packaging we need because we'd be pretty cheesed off if half the stuff we bought was broken. Packaging is usually made of plastic, which in most cases cannot be recycled. It all ends up in a huge rubbish heap called land fill where it sits for up to 500 years before it decomposes (breaks down). The amount of packaging used by some companies was very obvious over Christmas so I decided to do a bit of an experiment. An extra 115gm of non-recyclable plastic.
Should we put up with this nonsense from manufacturers? 
I weighed two Ferrero- Rocher empty containers. They are both a form of packaging. They were very different although they contained about the same amount of chocolate. One was designed to be plain and functional the other was more stylish in the shape of a pyramid. The rectangular one had 375 grams of chocolate, where as the pyramid shaped one had 350 grams of chocolate. I weighed them and found out that the rectangular container weighed 95 grams, but the pyramid shaped container weighed… 210 GRAMS!
Although it may look nice, the extra 115 grams of plastic is really not necessary and what was worse was that it wasn't recyclable plastic! A much better alternative would be to pack the chocolates in a cardboard box. This could then be recycled. Why should nashi pears be individually wrapped...madness!
What You Can Do?The next time you are shopping, buy the products without as much packaging, buy loose vegetables instead of pre-packed and cheese and ham from deli where it is wrapped in paper. See if the plastic container has the triangle 'recyclable' symbol on. It will contribute to saving the environment. An even better thing to do is to write or email the manufacturer and tell them what you think of their packaging. Tell them you’d rather buy their products if they used less packing around them AND that the packaging was recyclable. Have a look at things you buy next time you are in the shops. Here are some photos of stuff I bought for school. Did they need to use all this packaging…I don’t think so.
Some companies are doing the right thing. Kellogs uses cardboard for its boxes which are mostly made from recycled paper. After you use the box, you can recycle it at home too. By Freya Wadlow
Information from: www.treehugger.com & www.kelloggs.com.au
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