Day 6: If you don't ask...

So there I was doing a quick trolley dash around Waitrose last night, with my eldest in tow on our way home from Chess Club.

I normally avoid taking my children shopping because being such a positive person I really dislike saying "no" and trips out with the kids normally follow the same pattern...

"Mummy can I have....?"

"No"

"But Mummy, can I have....?"

"Oh no"

"Mummy, pllllllllllllllllllleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaase"

"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo"

"Mu..."

"Not on you nelly and that's the end of it!"

And that's just in the second aisle.

But last night there was hardly a murmer. I was beginning to wonder if he'd taken some compliancy pills because we'd done most of our shopping without a hint of a demand or a whingy-woo.

That is, until we got to the juice section and then it started...

"Mummy can we buy all those?" Pointing individually to each and every type of carton he could find on the shelves.

WHAT!

Perhaps one type of juice might be a reasonable request, but the whole aisle? That was a different matter entirely

"Oh no, no, no, no, no." came my reply.

"But we can recycle all the cartons." he said in his defence.

"There's even a recycling bin at the back of the car park."

He's obviously been taking notice of everything that's been happening this week.

Well it might be Recycle Week, and I know I've been working hard on my pledge but I'm not that dedicated I'd buy a whole range of fruit juice worthy of a well-stocked cocktail bar, just so I could recycle the cartons at the back of the car park.

Besides we already had stocks at home that hadn't even been opened.

But while we were both admiring the range of drinks on the shelves and arguing the toss, I couldn't help notice that something was missing...

...and something so simple too.

There may very well be an excellent recycling bin at the back of the car park for processing empty cartons, but how does the customer know?

There weren't any signs in the store or in the car park to advertise. Even if they are well used by those in the know, imagine the potential if more people were aware.

If it hadn't been Recycle Week, I might have simply paid up and wandered back to our car - yes, even me with my dedicated rubbish reducing antics.

But it's interesting how a public pledge and the mighty hand of a national campaign can motivate a busy mum with an impatient son in tow, to stop off at customer services and put in a simple suggestion that might help raise consumer awareness.

So while I stood writing out my letter to the manager....in the form of "Dear Waitrose.....can I have.....?", I dearly hoped that my idea to include some visible signs to their carton recycling facilities would be taken on board, rather than a "not on your nelly".

And if they do...that's what I'd call a Recycle Week result!

So keep your fingers crossed and if you find a similar opportunity to help your community waste less, remember the old saying..."If you don't ask, you don't get". And like the mind of an opportunist seven year old, even if you don't get, at least you know you've made a step in the right direction.



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Curiouser and Curiouser: A right royal tale

"Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!" I muttered, as I struggled to get my bike out of the garage.

I felt like the white rabbit from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, hurrying and scurrying around whilst fiddling with my two-wheeled contraption that had been hidden away for most of the Winter.

But why the rush?

I was off to see the Queen. Or rather, off to see if I could see the Queen. Not Lewis Carroll's Queen of Hearts I should add, but Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, on a rare visit to Bury St Edmunds. I've only ever seen her on TV, so I was curious to see her in the flesh.

I had only 10 minutes to cycle into town. I was most definitely running late.

But it was downhill all the way.... which meant descending a very steep slope, the kind that makes you want to shout "wheeeee" - all childlike, with my legs stretched out in a manner suited to balancing at high speed.

It was good to feel 10 again.

But I bet a 10 year old wouldn't have had a red face when they reached the bottom of the hill, like a big juicy raspberry on legs, huffing and puffing as the incline gave way to a a more level street, lined with people perfectly positioned for their first view of the royal party.

There was no traffic in front or behind. Just me, peddling past all the locals, the policemen and the men in dressed in black - the security professionals that had the whole town under scrutiny.

I wondered whether my reusable bags-for-life all scrunched up in my shopping basket would be met with an air of suspicion. I hoped not. I would have crumpled if I'd been stopped by a man in black and too scared of the consequences, despite my innocent nature. It was a curious experience indeed.

It was also a miracle that I made it into town just in time to see Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh passing through. The people clapped, cheered and waved flags. The crowd then followed the royal car towards the cathedral, while I made my way to the lounge of the historic Angel Hotel, where I often hide away with my laptop, regularly witnessing the appearance of the glass recycling bin being wheeled to the back door and bemusing the staff with my interest in such an activity.

So while Her Majesty distributed the Maundy Money and then wined and dined with the guests, I worked away like a busy little bee, tapping at the laptop to get as much done as I could possibly achieve before the arrival of the Easter bank holiday

But disturbed by a sudden noise, I looked over towards the lobby as the gentle humdrum of the lounge gave way to heavy footsteps marching up the stairs.

Blimmin' 'eck I couldn't believe my eyes - there were Beefeaters climbing the apples and pears. A whole army of them, or whatever the collective term may be for the traditional warders of The Tower of London. There were so many, I hoped the crown jewels were still in safe hands.

There they were, all the way up from London, looking fabulous in their costumes of red and gold. So distinguished and so British and so rare a sight in Suffolk.

Before the experience rendered itself into a figment of my overactive imagination. I rang my friend Ruby, who has a passion for historic events but who was unfortunately otherwise engaged and unable to make it into town that day.

"Guess what I've just seen," I chuckled and told her the tale of the Queen's Beefeaters."

She listened intently as I related my right royal story.

"Well guess what I've just seen," she said with a more serious tone.

"Waitrose's right royal parody of a veg box".

Now that's something special I thought. Waitrose selling veg boxes with a royal warrant by appointment.

But what she described was certainly no veg box, more of a recession-beating bargain of a veg bag, all prepacked with assorted vegetables for just a fiver. Now that was cheap, but with such a low price tag, surely it had to come at a cost! And it did because each group of vegetables were all carefully wrapped in their own plastic bags before being placed in the larger plastic bag, all for extending shelf life of course. How my jaw dropped. There's more plastic in there than one can shake a stick at, if you beg my royal pardon.

My day of flirting with glimpses of royalty might have been a curious adventure, but for me Ruby's tale of the assorted veg bags was the most curious event of them all, especially when retailers are busy trying to reduce the amount of packaging on their shelves, suddenly we were witnessing an example of a reversal in trend.

Where I'd glided down that hill in delight, I groaned all the way back up, not at the steepness of the incline, but at the thought of all those bags and whether other supermarkets are doing the same. I was certainly more red-faced by the time I'd reached the top. And as I arrived home, I felt more like a raspberry jelly balancing on a pair of wobbly legs.

I've since written to Waitrose, this evening in fact, after I'd managed to see the veg bags for myself in their plastic glory as Ruby had described.

I wonder if the royal household has bought any yet because of course Waitrose holds a Royal Warrant with Her Majesty The Queen.

Maybe I should ring and ask, but then again, maybe I'll mind my own business and stick to the local market, where I can get a whole lot more for a fiver, contained in just one reusable bag.

And maybe, just maybe, an alternative recession-busting solution can be found for Waitrose's assorted bag of plastic wrapped veg.

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Popping over to Waitrose (with my reusable bags)

I know that I've been promoting Independent Shops lately and I still stand by my convictions to support our local traders as part of my Zero Waste challenge. However yesterday, despite it being market day I chose to pop over to Waitrose.

I was in a rush and having hurt my back recently I needed the support of the trolley to carry the weight of the shopping, so a quick visit to my favourite supermarket fitted the bill nicely. I still managed to do the shop successfully with limited packaging (hoorah)...and (no doubt much to your relief)... this is where this particular monotonous tale ends.

What is much more interesting is that I also popped over to Waitrose's Managing Director's blog, where Mark Price posts regularly about work, family and his healthy eating plan.

One of his latest posts is very interesting indeed, where just a couple of days ago he discussed the issue of banning/taxing plastic bags.

I deliberately kept quiet about this topic when it hit the headlines last week as it holds little relevance to me. Although I am glad to see the country wake up to the disposable plastic lifestyle that we all take for granted, I regard plastic bags as just the thin layer of landfill icing that sits on a huge stodgy cake of unrecycled packaging, disposable products and food waste.

So it was highly pertinent to read Mark Price's thoughts on the whole plastic bag thing and I agree with him that aside from plastic bags, the country needs to address "the much bigger issue of resource management".

In his post, Mr Price offers the following facts: "Domestic household waste represents 9% of all UK waste, compared to 32% construction and demolition and 29% mining and quarrying. Packaging in general represents 25% of household waste, with carrier bags themselves representing just 0.3% of household waste".

When you look at things this way, it is possible to dig deep into the layers of landfill that the country creates and see the benefit of giving one's life a gradual makeover, changing habits that go beyond the notorious plastic bags, just as I have done with the Zero Waste challenge. However, I draw the line at quarrying for my own stone and building my own house, you will be relieved to hear.

What was real music to my ears is Mark Price's statement towards the end of his post, where he confirms that Waitrose "will continue to recycle plastic carriers returned from our customers but keep our real focus on the big issues of packaging and food waste, sustainability and health and well being".

Now that is fantastic! I don't know much about the other supermarkets but I hope that the "giants" in particular Asda, Sainbury's and Tesco are doing the same. They've signed up to the Courtauld Commitment, with the aim of reducing the amount of packaging and rubbish that ends up in our bins, so progress is hopefully going in the right direction. According to RecycleNow, supermarkets and producers are making great in-roads. However the latest news is that as a result of reducing primary packaging that sits on the shelves, in certain cases there has been an increase in the packaging used to transport the goods.

Oh dilemmas, dilemmas! What a complicated world we live in! It just goes to show that managing packaging is not easy, whether you're a consumer at home or whether you run a huge national supermarket chain.

Anyway, I thought I would share the details that I happened to email Mark Price's office last weekend, politely inviting him to comment on packaging on his blog. A personal message goes our to Mr Price to thank him for doing that. Whether his comments are as a result of my cheeky email or simply just a happy coincidence, I am just pleased to hear that my regular supermarket is looking at the bigger picture and taking the right action, which makes me a happier customer indeed.

You can read Mark Price's post To Ban or Not to Ban at The Grocer's Blog:

http://www.waitrose.com/blog/entry.aspx?uid=8c77ae06-4566-46f8-9981-810b5f594e46

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