Tuesday 29 July 2008

Considering Condiments


I tried to snap this photo without drawing attention to myself, but was spotted by two guys out of shot, who must have thought I was bonkers. Indeed, as my camera went "click" at the M25 Clacket Services on Sunday, one man nudged the other, tipped his head towards me, the other one turned his head and whispering conversations and laughter ensued.

And there I was thinking I was being discreet.

But what a rare sight for sore and weary eyes. As a frequent visitor to all kinds of catering establishments, it was a delight to see an alternative those nasty little things....which have been proliferating the country's eateries at a rate of knots.


Yes the ubiquitous condiment sachet, with all those plastic wrappers that end up languishing in landfill.

Does this mean that changes are afoot in the UK?

I really hope so. With the McDonalds fast-food chain swapping sachets for condiment dispensers and DEFRA promoting the use of reusable containers in public sector catering, we may be gradually waving goodbye to this little bit of flimsy plastic.

Sauce bottles may not be the perfect solution, given some people's habits but it does mean that those annoying sachets are teetering on the edge of BIN 101.

So without further ado, nip over to www.bin101.co.uk for the latest candidate to face the public vote. Please do your bit to help get them banished forever, and if you see them on your travels, why not tip a wink or a nod to the restaurant owner, suggesting they have a look at The Rubbish Diet, where they'll find more sauce than HP.


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P.S. Just in case you've missed it, scroll down to see the latest packaging news from WRAP, which was announced yesterday.

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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh good call - and one definitely worthy of a bin101 in my opinion. How great to see things changing; I'll keep my eye out from now on and report back to you :D
I'm sure the companies will be saving heaps of money by buying like this too (and not so much will be nicked by savvy eaters LOL!)
I just hope they are recycled after use ;)

Sharon J said...

Funnily enough, we had lunch at a pub a few days ago and I was thinking about the amount of waste that must accumulate from all those little sachets. I mentioned it but my dining partner felt they were more hygenic than bottles and wouldn't like to see their return. I guess you can't please all of the people.

Christina S said...

I hate those little sachets - you don't ever get enough in them for one thing.

A good big plastic squeezy bottle -kept clean and full - is the best idea IMO. I seem to remember they had ones shaped like tomatoes for Ketchup in Wimpey back in the day!!

Almost Mrs Average said...

Hi Mrs G - Hee, Hee. I think we need an official survey of all those eateries, showing a census of condiment use. Hmm, I too think owners would save money if they bought sauces in containers, as we know packaging costs. So let Sauce Watch begin. How to you fancy being the saucy correspondent LOL? ;-D

Hi Sharon - lovely to see you over here and thanks for commenting. Was your dining partner Richard by any chance? I noticed his comment over at BIN 101. I'd love to see more restaurants serving sauces by request in individual reusable pots that can be simply washed and reused. If we have to have sachets, manufacturers could at least make them bigger so the contents cover more than three chips :-D

Hi Rubes - As you can tell I agree with you wholeheartedly. Do you recognise his photo of the sachets? It was taken some months ag at that cafe in town where we took it in turns to sit the kids at the table before we went off to the Abbey Gardens. On for the archive eh?! LOL at the tomato shaped bottles...time to bring them back...only if they can be recycled of course ;-D

charengiwooman said...

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Will you think it is too good somehow though it is not used now?

charengiwooman said...

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