Zero Waste Week 2011
August 22, 2011 in section: Uncategorized by Mrs Green with 16,117 views
Join in with national zero waste week 2011
Welcome to the fourth National Zero Waste Week!
National Zero Waste Week takes place week beginning 5th September 2011.
This year’s theme is ‘Reducing waste away from home‘ in support of Recycle Now’s Recycle Week where the theme “Recycling - Home and Away” got everyone thinking about recycling not just at home, but when out shopping, at work or socialising.
How can I join in?
Leave a comment below telling us what you pledge to do to reduce waste when you’re away from home. Then come back during National Zero Waste Week and tell us how you are getting on.
Be sure to bookmark this page! If you have a blog or webpage, please help spread the word by writing about National Zero Waste week.
If you’re on twitter or facebook, encourage your friends and family to join in too. Use the hashtag #nzww on twitter or sign up for our zero waste week event on Facebook.
You can find our pages on Twitter and Facebook.
What can I pledge to do?
As long as you end up reducing your waste away from home in some way, you can choose anything you like. Here are some ideas:
- Use your own travel mug rather than disposable plastic cups in places like Starbucks or at work
- Take a zero waste packed lunch to work or school
- Take home fruit peelings and cores to compost at home or set up a compost heap or bokashi bin at work
- If you’re eating out ask to take your leftovers home to reduce food waste
- Are you planning a 3D movie during zero waste week? Support a cinema that encourages you to keep your glasses and reuse them in exchange for a saving on the ticket price for future 3D presentations rather than opting for the once-use disposable option
- Try to avoid one or more of the following when eating out:
- Plastic straws - let your waiter know beforehand that you don’t want the straw
- Paper parasols - pretty but not sustainable
- Disposable cutlery and chopsticks - carry your own spork which you can pick up in a camping shop for a couple of pounds
- Plastic or paper cups -If you’re left with a plastic bottle to dispose of, use one of your local on-street recycling bins
- Paper napkins - carry your own reusable cloths with you
- Individual pots containing sauces or jam - raise awareness by asking the manager to provide alternatives; it might just get them thinking
- Individual plastic milk cartons
Photograph / video competition
You might remember Mrs A from the Rubbish Diet and her friend Shedwyn have been busy on the streets since Recycle Week encouraging people to take photos and videos of themselves using ‘on-the-go’ recycling bins. It’s all part of the ‘Reducing waste away from home” idea.
Mrs A has bagged two wonderful prizes for your best photos of recycling when out and about and we’ll be awarding them at the end of National Zero Waste Week:
The first is a Bottletop clutch bag made from ring pulls worth £99. Bottletop Trading design and produce ethically sourced and environmentally friendly products, especially from countries where they support education programmes. Their focus on quality, sustainability and local craftsmanship enables them to generate employment in poor parts of the world. Bottletop give people the opportunity to improve their own lives by learning skills and earning money and profits are invested back in to the community to ensure a long lasting and sustainable impact.
The second prize is a fantastic package from Dan at Onya which includes one of each of the following:
Onya Back
Onya Bag
Onya Lunch
Onya Weigh
H2Onya Bottles
People Towel
Onya is one of our best known and well loved brands. Dan at Onya sells a huge range of products designed to help you reduce landfill. His business began with the humble Onya reusable bag and now extends to drinking bottles, sandwich wraps and a whole host of other goodies. Dan is a self confessed compost maniac and recycler; creating less rubbish every six weeks for his entire office than the average householder creates in a week.
If you want to enter Mrs A’s competition, the two categories we will be judging in the photographic competition are:
1. The most interesting photo of recycling bins. (yes really, recycling bins CAN be interesting!)
2. The photo or video that made us smile or laugh the most.
To enter, post up your photos or videos directly to the 1000 bins facebook page. If you’re not a facebook user, email to standup@therubbishdiet.co.uk and Mrs A will add them for you. Read more about ideas for your snaps and videos and how to get involved.
The deadline is midnight 11 Sept (GMT).
Regardless of whether you enter the competition be sure to keep us updated in the comments section below - let us know what you are doing when out and about to keep up your recycling habits, how you are reducing waste away from home and how your actions are inspiring others!
Mrs Green’s remarkable fridge invention
I don’t want your vouchers
Would you like a bag?
How to reduce waste in the office
The truth about recycling plastic
Are electric cars really green (washing)?
Mrs Green talks on Radio Cumbia about food waste
How to recycle your Christmas Dinner
On an “eating out” note:
I take the bamboo chopsticks home to compost… They seem to do OK…?
I am looking at trying to make a pouch so I can take my own chopsticks to places as we have some lovely ones at home that never get used!
On an eating at home note:
I think my biggest struggle is going to be the plastic that things come in before I do something with them! I might not be 100% zero waste, but I’m going to try - AND I’m going to set the end of Zero Waste Week to be my deadline to contact companies I use regularly (especially Quorn and Cadbury’s), and ask them to confirm what the plastic is so that I can dispose of it properly.
Best of luck with Zero Waste Week!
@Tracey: Thanks for the heads up on the bamboo chopsticks; I’ve never used them, but it’s good to hear that you think they compost successfully. I love the idea of a little pouch; what a great project for zero waste week
And good luck with Cadburys and Quorn; please let us know what they say as it will help others to make empowered decisions when buying food. Enjoy the week and thanks for taking part
I always carry a small plastic bag with me when I am away which I call my ‘mobile compost heap’. Anything which normally goes on the heap at home goes in there and is then transferred when I get home. If I’m eating out I always ask for left-overs for my chickens who love a bit of variation in their diets. Most restaurants are happy to oblige. Will try to remember to always have a water bottle and mug with me to avoid using disposables. I was very annoyed in one station cafe when they refused to fill my insulated mug directly but said they had to fill a disposable first and then put it into mine!
@Carol Henshaw: Hi Carol, well that’s dedication - carrying a ‘mobile compost heap’ - fantastic! That’s crazy about the station cafe
Hope you get some more sustainable service during zero waste week!
@Carol Henshaw: I have a little plastic clip-lid tub that I take to work - that’s my “compost box” - everyone at work thinks I’m nuts! But as I’m TRYING to lose weight, it’s getting my grape-stems and apple cores (and any “bad” grapes!) - so I think I need to either take it home every night (it started once a week), or get a bigger box!
On a plus note, I used to get a lot of food from Philpotts in Leeds and they were really supportive of my zero-waste and would let me take in my own clip-lid tub in and I would get porridge in it in a morning and wash it out, then take it back and get soup in it at lunchtime! They were great! They did point out that they couldn’t take any responsibility if I got food-poisoning from it as it would be more likely to be from my tub than their products, but I was happy to take the risk!
I also have my recycling boxes under my desk (which does restrict leg-movement a bit), for cardboard, tins/cans, tetrapacks and plastics as my workplace only recycle paper (because it has to be securely shredded anyway) and toners. They’re made out of old A4-paper boxes.
@Tracey: Fab to hear about Philpotts in Leeds - give them a hug from me next time you’re in there
@Mrs Green: As I’ve been trying to “downshift” (I’ve gone to a 4-day week to spend more time at home), I’ve had to stop the “luxuries” from Philpots, so very rarely pop my head in now… On the plus side, I make my porridge at home and make my own soups - which, in the long run - is much more satisfying!
I’m going to use up what’s in my cupboard for zero waste week (while not buying anything wrapped in unrecyclable packaging). I’ll do it the week before so I can blog about it on my site in time for National Zero Waste week.
Also my birthday is during National Zero Waste Week - how about I have a zero waste birthday party??
I’m going to give up being ‘expected’ into using disposable stirrers, spoons, and cups!
Might start carrying my own teaspoon and lightweight mug to do battle with the provided facilities at meetings… and my own sugar to avoid individual packets…
For that matter I could just take a flask!
Hi Mrs Green!
Getting very exited for our first Zero Waste week at Eco-Centricity! I have just written up our zero waste pledge over at http://eco-centricity.blogspot.com/2011/08/national-my-zero-waste-week.html
On a personal note, Ill be taking some inspiration from joddle, and using up all the foods in my cupboard before I do any food shopping.
Ill also be buying a fab cutlery pouch from a friendly local crafter, So I always know where my cutlery is in my bag, when Im on the move!
My main personal pledge is simple preparation and planning! Im in the process of Organising and structuring it to work in an eco-friendly manner at all times; Essentially meaning that I can never forget, or have any excuse for a slip up!
May take a while to really get it perfect and finalised, but once its done, I will be nothing short of a green goddess (I hope! :P), and it will be oh so worth it!
@Tracey: Sounds like your life is taking off just as you want it - good for you Tracey (and I agree, no matter how good takeout food it, nothing beats home cooked!)
@joddle: A zero waste Birthday party sounds like a fantastic way to celebrate the week; have a lovely time and thanks for your support - am looking forward to reading about it on your site.
@Michelle Morgan: Thanks so much for a great post with some excellent pledges; you’re really dedicated. Good luck and keep us posted on your progress - you are indeed a Green Goddess
Zero Waste Week 2011 is stacking up to be a very busy one in our household, so I’m not sure I’m going to have time to be wasting anything anywhere!
We sinned today and had one of those horrible things that pretends to be a burger. (Why oh why did I bother ….. horrible, horrible!) I did bring home all the card and paper. Also added the drink lids to the on street plastics recycling bin,
@Poppy: So many people seem to have a busy week planned during zero waste week; I’m not sure if that’s good or bad! Good luck with the week. Well done for bringing home all the paper and card today
Oh wonderful … please count me in! We do pretty well with any kind of waste while we’re out and about but … I’m going to give this some thought and see what else we can do.
Yay! How quickly the last year has gone, and how quickly this year’s NZWW has come upon us.
And not too soon, I’d say - I’ve been a bit loose and free with my waste habits this last couple of months. Time to get back on the ball.
I’ll be working with the boys to come up with some pledges and will post them soon.
Good luck everyone! And thanks again Rae for being at the forefront
I pledge to only buy my food from my local market and small local shops, all carried home in my reusable carrier bags.
The fellas in my house are going to only be allowed to buy Mum/Wife approved packageless goods
Well, I’ve grown sick and tired of the waste from disposable drinks - there’s loads that could be cut out, from little plastic cups and spoons, to wooden stirrers and even individually sacheted sugar and coffee.
I’ll be taking my own flask, of coffee made just how I like it, at home, from a large bag of sugar, large paper bag of coffee and I’ll shake it before I use a useless little plastic spoon!
I’ll also be carrying my own mug, as part of my flask.
We’ve also got some workshops on to encourage more use of reusable bags, but a little later in the month.
And blogging as we go… http://www.letswastelessnel.blogspot.com
Zero Waste , here we come!!
Luckily my bosses are very zero-tolerant on waste, they (and I) live as ‘eco’ a life as possible, even running their health food shop as ethically as they can. We all take in home-cooked/prepped/grown food in reusable containers, and we even fight over who gets the food scraps for the compost bin!
I pledge to only give customers paper bags if they desperately need one, and if they insist on a large bag I’ll insist on selling them a cloth one!!
Really is good to see this again Rae.
When I feel better I’ll write more. x
Hello Mrs ZW, good to seee you back! My household will be “on the Wagon” for NZWW again this year. We, as others commenting above, have slipped back a way, so that will be our challenge. Also like the sound of the “using stuff up in the cupboards” thing as mine are so packed they could do with a clear out. I will be on Jury Service that week so will take the opportunity to help convert those not on track!
Hello Rae
I’m John’s partner.
We are off camping for 10 days so are taking as much of our own stuff as we can.
No plastic cutlery or any unnecessary waste packaging will be used. We will be using our own plates and cutlery and flasks as well. If there are any edible foods that we can eat from the hedgerows that we find, we will be having that for a meal instead of eating pre packaged, junk food.
@Small Footprints: Would be an honour to have you joining in hon - can’t wait to see what you’ll come up with - you are always so creative with your ideas.
@Julie Gibbons: Glad this has come at a good time for you Julie; I think we all get a bit lax throughout the long summer holiday.
@Louise Grace: Sounds like a great plan Louise - thanks for sharing and enjoy the week!
@RubbishGeek: Can’t wait to hear more about your workshops and I LOVE your idea of getting back to taking your own flask of coffee; thats’ just how it always used to be
@Ellen Perrin: What a wonderful pledge Ellen - thank you and isn’t it great that you work for such an ethical company. Love that you fight over compost scraps LOL!
@Lobma Thundrup: Thank you! Looking forward to seeing what you are up to.
@H0gg1t: Jury Service; wow - rather you than me. Good luck with that and the ‘use it up!’ challenge and extra points for converting people throughout the week; that’s what it’s all about….
@Helen Ford: Hi Helen (((HUGS))) It’s wonderful that you are embracing this while away from home for a while as this really tests our ability to come up with creative solutions. Hope you have some happy foraged meals
I almost never buy takeaways - if eating away from home I usually take my own food and utensils, including a cloth napkin. What I will do during zero waste week is to try to generate no waste in my home cooking. I’ll try to live out of the fridge and storecupboard, cook from scratch, compost all the peelings etc.
(I pretty much do this all the time, but pledge to be extra vigilant during ZW week!)
@Mary White: Hi Mary, thanks for leaving a comment about your pledge - it sounds superb; especially, as I’m sure you’re aware, food waste is one of my particular passions! Have a great week and I hope you create some lovely meals
Okay … I think I’ve got it! We generate very little waste either at home or away. But … I’ve noticed that when we go to a restaurant, the server fills our water glasses whether they really need it or not. At the end of the meal, there are typically full water glasses on the table. Now multiply that by all the patrons and it adds up to a lot of wasted water. So my commitment is to NOT let them fill my glass unless I’m actually going to drink the water.
By the way … this will be Reduce Footprints’ challenge tomorrow (Wed) and that will make this an international event. WhooHoo!
Oh my goodness I didn’t know you had this blog also!! I am so glad that the challenge this week was to come here. I am so excited to start checking all this great information out! We always take our own cloths with us so that we don’t have to use paper napkins and we also take our own silverware when we have picnics instead of plastic ones.
Well… the only paper product we use is toilet paper so maybe it’s time to sew up some cloth toilet “paper”. I’ve been meaning to do it for awhile now….
We’re down to one garbage bag of actual trash per month or so for our household of 8. I still think we could do better but it’s been hard. It’s packaging! That’s all our trash consists of. Grrr.
I have responded to the challenge on Small Footprints blog. Have added your Zero Waste Week image as well. My efforts are explained in the post.
AV
Great initiative! I am committing to bring zero-waste lunches to work next week!
This is great! As a family we’ve been trying to reduce waste (we have a long way to go). We’ve begun composting and have been recycling for years now, so waste is little, but….
Outside of the home, in restaurants we focus on the disposable items, straws and their wrappers, coasters for drinks, to-go boxes, napkins, paper menus, etc. We’re a little at a time remembering to ask for no straws, we need to begin bringing our own cloth napkins, and to-go containers. I’m really good about always having a tall glass of water or water bottle in my car so I don’t ever have to purchase plastic water bottles. We have finally nailed down the habit of replenishing the reusable bags in the car so we never need plastic or paper bags in a grocery or any other store for that matter.
A lot of progress and still so much room for improvement!!
Oh, I LOVE the mobile compost from above, I’m going to implement that too!
Tanya
Love this idea and just posted about it! I can’t wait to really commit to this - I agree that packaging is a hard thing to get rid of! Grrr
Thanks for this!
Taking our leftovers home: we do it (or eat where the portions suit us best with no leftovers). Asking for tap water: we do it. Refillable water bottles: we do it. There aren’t enough recycling bins when we’re out so often a drinks can or two will come home. Pre-packed sandwich wrapping: usually avoided but bought and not happy - letters pending x 3 (I can’t separate the plastic and card.)
I’ve already written to a couple of LA’s pointing out where their recycling information is incorrect and needs updating. One is sorted. The problems with the other are still unresolved despite promise.
New academic year: all those new students in new digs whose landlords have failed to provide them with the recycling and waste information and necessary bins need to be picked up on quickly. Then they will get the right start with help and info from the LA and their neighbours.
@Small Footprints: Wow, what a great challenge; something I’ve never thought of but you’re right - multiply a wasted glass of water by all the customers in a year and it really adds up. Thanks for sharing such an inspirational challenge.
@Alicia@eco friendly homemaking: Hi Alicia; yep, I have two online homes! I’m so excited you are joining in and look forward to hearing more about how you will ‘up the ante’ for yourself!
@Jupiter: One bag of landfill waste for a household of 8 is brilliant Jupiter; well done! I’ll be interested to see if you manage the wee cloths
@Yan | Towards Simplicity: thanks for taking part Yan and good luck with your challenges!
@Tanya: Hi Tanya, welcome to the challenge; it sounds like you are putting so much time and thought and effort into reducing waste. I look forward to hearing how you get on and keeping up with your challenge during the week!
@Lynn: thanks for helping spread the word by posting Lynn; I really appreciate it. Can’t wait to see what you get up to
I try to cut down on waste at home but out and about is a bit of a blind spot for as it’s all non-routine, so this is an excellent challenge to make me look at what I do waste when I’m out. I very rarely eat out or get takeaways, so that’s not an area I can tackle. Shopping, well… I’ve recently discovered that by going to a butcher in a different town, I can get the same free-range chickens wrapped in a single sheet of paper rather than polystyrene tray and cling film. Even better, my husband has to go to that town anyway, so it saves a trip, and he does the shopping!
However, for this challenge, I looked a bit closer to home - right into my handbag, in fact. There I found a packet of disposable tissues. I pledge to replace this with cloth hankies in a couple of bags, one for fresh and one for used (still not going quite as far as Jupiter, but it’s a step in the right direction). I blogged about it here http://growingthingsandmakingthings.blogspot.com/2011/09/pledge-for-zero-waste-week.html and I’ve joined the facebook page, too.
@Jupiter: Definitely go for it! I’ve been using them (along with my 2 daughters) for a while now, and it’s been so easy. I used fleece (DD2’s preference because it’s soft) and cotton jersey (my choice) so no sewing required! The cotton is from t-shirts too marked to hand on and the fleece used to be nappy liners, so recycled and free
I keep them in a tub in the cupboard under the basin and use a waterproof fabric bag (old nappy kit again) for the used ones. A tub or jar would work just as well, and if you wanted to hide them a fabric bag could cover the jar. They go in the wash as and when; no smell or mess. Easy-peasy!
Out and about, something that is a bit of a sticking point is straws. My children love them and they are often put in drinks without me knowing, they take them from the dispenser before I can stop them or they are produced with a flourish by well meaning pub and restaurant staff. Or my dad. So, I’ve just found stainless steel straws on Amazon for £6-7 for 4 including postage. I’m going to check ebay too. I didn’t fancy glass straws in my handbag, but steel ones should be family proof!
So my pledge is to buy (and use) reusable straws. And remember to carry a cloth napkin. I always have a handkerchief, and always take napkins if we’re planning to eat, but then I get caught out by spontaneous eating! (In my defence, I do generally bring paper wipes home to put in the compost heap…)
I make cloth wipes for the baby so I figure it’s not going to be that different. Maybe getting everyone into the habit will be the hardest. I sense resistance from the spawnlings
Not only do I always have a travel mug in my car for coffee-drinking purposes, I also buy them at thrift stores, which keeps them out of the landfill AND saves me extra money. Why buy a new cup when you can get one for almost nothing? http://rewinn.blogspot.com/2010/01/coffee-cup-love.html
We are encouraging all members of our Transition group to ‘do their bit’ for National Zero Waste Week 2011!
My local zoo do free refills of drinks each time you return if you purchase one of their insulated mugs. Overtime it has paid to buy the mug as I use it else where also, particularly during training sesions at work to keep me going!!!
Having just emptied my kitchen bin, my pledge is to watch what I am putting in it and to recycle more rather than just chuck it in. Our council collects any food waste, as well as household waste, recycling and glass, but we compost what we can in our garden.
I’m very excited to help support #nzww via my everyday work, and on twitter under @LisaBorden and @takeoutwout! Although this week is for inspiration, resources and awareness, let’s strive together to make waste reduction something we do every, single day.
A couple resources that I hope help –>
My free guide to packing eco-delicious lunches with 10 pages of ideas and reusables: http://bit.ly/pPfQW1
Campaign I started to reduce restaurant waste: http://www.takeoutwithout.org
@Rachel: wonderful stuff; thanks Rachel - I left a message on your blog, so hope it got through. I love your challenge; one I still feel yukky about, although goodness knows why. Great news that you’ve found a ‘greener’ butcher too
@Hazel: thanks for all the great advice about the wee cloths and good news on the stainless steel straws too. A company just offered me some glass ones, but surely they have to be a bit of a health hazard; esp for kids who like to bite LOL!
@Eastleigh Transition Network: Wonderful news; thanks so much for joining in!
@Helen: what a lovely gesture from your local zoo to reduce waste on cups; I’ve never heard of that before. Although Starbucks I believe, offer a discount if you use your own cup? Good luck with reducing your household waste; taking a bin audit is definitely the first step
@Lisa Borden: thanks for all the links and support Lisa - I agree this isn’t just for one week, it’s all about putting small changes into place that can be continued throughout the year
After reading through the comments, I realized that there are several things that I could be doing, but I think that the biggest area that I can personally make a change is either making my cofee/tea at home or bringing a reusable mug if I buy it outside, not buying bottled drink but use the multiple reusable bottles that I own, and eating home vs out and using up leftovers or making just enough food for one meal so that food doesn’t go to waste. Along with the last goal, I need to start commiting to follow a meal plan so that I don’t waste uncooked food, by only buying what I need! These goals should not only help reduce waste, but alsohelp my wallet.
what fantastic pledges Amy; thanks so much for sharing and best of luck. I personally find meal planning quite hard to stick to but I know people who swear by it. Come back and tell us how you got on with it - would love to hear
Congratulations on a great initiative. Over here we are trying to get ready for European Zero Waste Week in November and are busy translating zwl into Portuguese etc etc. We hope to be working on an initiative with a local environmental agency. I have been so busy that I forgot to tweet support for your National Zero Waste Week. I do apologize for the oversight-will pay better attention next year! Rest assured that your fantastic work and seemingly never ending energy remain a huge inspiration to us here in Portugal and elsewhere too I’m surel!
Best wishes
Sonja
@zerowastelifestyle: Hi Sonja, good to see you again. European Zero Waste Week sounds fantastic; I hope you have fun with that; let me know details nearer the time and I’ll help you spread the word
Rather belatedly, I have blogged about how I got on with my pledge. http://growingthingsandmakingthings.blogspot.com/2011/09/zero-waste-week-update.html
I didn’t quite do what I intended, but I have managed to stop using disposable tissues, both home and away.
@Hazel: I found some pyrex straws online - I’ve not bought them yet as I very rarely use straws out and about, except for when I’m camping (about 6 weekends in the year):
http://glassdharma.com/index.html
They’re also guaranteed for life! Yes, they [i]might[/i] break, but as long as they’re not dropped, they should be fine, and if they DO, they’ll replace them. I’m not sure if you can get them in the UK without shipping, but one of my friends is going over to the US for a month in the new year, so I’m going to be very cheeky and ask her to get me some.
I keep checking my e-mail - I’ve only had 5 responses so far… /sigh
- Quorn: all packaging = cardboard (they added this is from renewable sources), or plastics 2, 4 or 5! This is a WIN for me and veggies everywhere!
- Jesmona Black Bullets: sweet wrappers = cellulose, which “the internet” tells me is compostable
- Graze: I know you’d written to them before, but it doesn’t hurt to write again = cardboard box, punnets are plastic 1 and the plastic wrap on the outside (to stop the box opening in the post) is “PEH natural, Polyethylene film”, which I can’t identify (from http://www.bpf.co.uk/sustainability/plastics_recycling.aspx), but is recyclable “ask local council for advice” - and the film lid contains a product called EVOH this is an oxygen barrier and helps to keep the food fresh. This means that the lids are not recyclable at the moment
- Arm & Hammer Toothpaste: lid = plastic 5 and box = cardboard, but (as with most toothpastes) “the tube body is not taken by all district councils for recycling because it is a laminate made from layers of Polyethylene and Aluminium foil”
- Whiskas: Dentabits and Temptations cat treats - tubs = plastic 5, but film lid = non-recyclable
Still waiting to hear back from:
- Cadburys (all wrappers)
- Royal Canin (10kg cat food bag)
- Clipper Fairtrade Teabags (Thanks to you and Suma, I now buy in bulk, but in the BIG 1100 tea-bag box, the tea-bags are packaged in packs of 40 in a silver-coloured wrapping which I don’t think counts as “foil”, though I’d love to be proven wrong)
- Rubicon Mango Cans (packs of 6 cans are wrapped in plastic)
- Doves Farm (yeast - for my breadmaker - though one of my friends recently told me they get their yeast in tubs that are fully recyclable - I’m going to investigate this for future)
I got the automatic response from my MP saying they’d received my e-mail, but in the past they’ve always replied via snail-mail…
If you’d like copies of any of the responses, drop me a line and I’ll forward them.
@Tracey Dixon:
Good luck with Cadburys. I wrote to them a couple of times last year and it is really hard to get an individual response from them.
I must have got up on the right side of the bed this morning - I got a letter back from my MP and Cadburys!
MP basically said she’d passed my letter on to one of my local councillors (although I’d written to the 3 local councillors separately!) and that she’ll reply as soon as she gets a response from him.
Cadburys have said:
“The plastic materials that we use comprise PET and polypropylene. [...snip...] PET is widely recycled by the majority of authorities. We make use of recycled PET in our packaging where stringent food safety standards allow.
Facilities for recycling of polypropylene provided in your area may differ from those in neighbouring areas. We therefore advise you to check with your local authority regarding what they currently recycle and how their infrastructure is developing in the future.”
They also pointed me at the “recyclenow” website.
Not too bad! I can start eating chocolate again! *nom nom nom*
Though both arrived in windowed envelopes!!! /facepalm
@Tracey: well done for getting responses and thanks for sharing here - it’s really useful information