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There is good news of sorts following the announcement that Lincolnshire County Council Trading Standards Department are taking Sainsbury’s to court for using too much packaging. They said that the packaging for a beef roasting joint was ‘not limited to the minimum adequate amount to maintain the necessary level of safety, hygiene and acceptance’.
If convicted, Sainsbury’s face a fine of between £500 and £3,000 which will not impact on them at all, though it might if such an action were to be repeated around the country. But it is a wake-up call for them and other supermarkets that regularly over-package some goods.
Lincolnshire Council puts the case very clearly. ‘Excessive packaging on goods can cause unnecessary damage to the environment and increase costs associated with recycling and landfill.’
They are absolutely right. Excessive packaging is not only a waste of resources and in some cases a perishing nuisance when, as for example, one has to buy four peaches which sit in a polystyrene base which is then covered with cling film when one could just as easily put four peaches in a bag.
We have very good rubbish collections in our area, but recyclable waste is collected every two weeks. In that time, it is surprising how much packaging the three people in our household can produce. And it is much the same story right along our road when we see piles of pink sacks heaped on the pavements outside people’s houses.
More power then to Trading Standards officials around the country for ridding us of excessive and unwanted packaging.
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There is good news of sorts following the announcement that Lincolnshire County Council Trading Standards Department are taking Sainsbury’s to court for using too much packaging. They said that the packaging for a beef roasting joint was ‘not limited to the minimum adequate amount to maintain the necessary level of safety, hygiene and acceptance’.
If convicted, Sainsbury’s face a fine of between £500 and £3,000 which will not impact on them at all, though it might if such an action were to be repeated around the country. But it is a wake-up call for them and other supermarkets that regularly over-package some goods.
Lincolnshire Council puts the case very clearly. ‘Excessive packaging on goods can cause unnecessary damage to the environment and increase costs associated with recycling and landfill.’
They are absolutely right. Excessive packaging is not only a waste of resources and in some cases a perishing nuisance when, as for example, one has to buy four peaches which sit in a polystyrene base which is then covered with cling film when one could just as easily put four peaches in a bag.
We have very good rubbish collections in our area, but recyclable waste is collected every two weeks. In that time, it is surprising how much packaging the three people in our household can produce. And it is much the same story right along our road when we see piles of pink sacks heaped on the pavements outside people’s houses.
More power then to Trading Standards officials around the country for ridding us of excessive and unwanted packaging.
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