That is why shops where you can buy some food loose rather than pre-packed is such a winner.  But just look at how much of a hurry shoppers so often are!  It can't just be the icy temperatures of those stores without doors on their chiller cabinets! https://putney.news/2026/07/25/putneys-scoop-your-own-grocer-is-closing-its-bins-for-good/ Losing such a shop in Putney is such a great shame. I remember a Parisian friend relating how when she visited a friend in Tunisia she had gone out to buy some olive oil and had come back with a big bottle of it from the local shop.  Her feeling of success was crushed when the friend she was visiting was horrified and explained to her that she had just bought the whole of the village's supply of olive oil. The custom was to just take a small container to fill. Plastic unfortunately is such a cheap by-product of the oil industry that it is pushed hard into being a cheap necessity when people measure things more by cost than by total value.  It's good to avoid it but you do have to understand how to keep food at its best when buying especially in great amounts - something which itself can cause a lot more and different problems making it not worthwhile.  www.lovefoodhatewaste is a good reference for a lot of things foodwise eg portion sizes, how to keep food, left-over recipes, store cupboard essentials and store cupboard recipes etc. I try and reuse a lot of packaging either as bin bags - larger ones for emptying the vacuum cleaner into and also for lining small waste bins and or to transport food waste scraps to the wormery.  At the moment also using some to teach a grandchild where food comes from ie all over the world! Some flimsy plastic goes to supermarket recycling - but avoiding that is best. As far as I am concerned I'd prefer much less or none on many items but quite a lot is very importantly used in medical products which after use should then be incinerated. I need another locking keep cup to get an iced latte from the park in as the cup the cafe there puts it in is made out of PET and which if it wasn't going to make a mess in my bag I would take home to recycle - in the hope that it actually is. (The ice goes on the thirsty plants.)  The cafe should by now be separating their rubbish of course but that is another argument to be had. I did come across a Chinese company that was turning plastic back into oil a couple of years ago...

Entire Thread

Topic	Date Posted	Posted By
Nine Things You Can Do About Climate Change	10/08/26 20:48:00	Philippa Bond
Re:Nine Things You Can Do About Climate Change	10/08/26 23:52:00	Michael Brigo
Re:Nine Things You Can Do About Climate Change	11/08/26 09:56:00	Philippa Bond
Re:Re:Nine Things You Can Do About Climate Change	11/08/26 10:30:00	Michael Brigo
Re:Re:Re:Nine Things You Can Do About Climate Change	11/08/26 13:34:00	Philippa Bond
Re:Re:Re:Re:Nine Things You Can Do About Climate Change	11/08/26 14:07:00	Michael Brigo
Re:Re:Re:Re:Nine Things You Can Do About Climate Change	11/08/26 15:31:00	John Hawkes

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