h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

For those of you with an ultra-serious nature please note that the early part of the following post is very much

When I wrote this article A31079883 on 17.01.08 for I had no idea of the impact it would have on readers. The power of h2g2 and the BBC is greater than I thought!

On Wednesday 27 February 2008 The Daily Mail (British national newspaper) began a major campaign to banish the plastic carrier bag. There is little doubt that the photos of the messy litter these items cause, and the dreadful harm caused to wildlife, galvanised individuals, politicians and some supermarkets in to action. And not before time!

For all articles and photos:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/dmsearch/overture.html?in_page_id=711&in_overture_ua=cat&in_start_number=0&in_query=Banish+the+bags&siteOr=

Now, we know that politicians will jump on any handy bandwagon that will transport them towards more votes at the ballot box, but I think this time that maybe we should support and encourage them to actually do the right thing.

The mere carrying of a cotton bag with a slogan can start the ball rolling. My cotton shopping bags are carried in a smaller cotton bag provided free by the

BBC Breathing Places Campaign http://www.bbc.co.uk/breathingplaces/ which asks that you ‘Do One Thing’ for wildlife on one side, with BBC logo and Breathing Places on the other. The other day, on the way to the bus I was asked by a charming workman “what one thing are you doing?” with a big saucy grin.

I stopped to tell him that apart from putting up bird feeders and planting a tree for nature, this year I was ‘banning the bag’. He showed genuine interest, and I hope I planted a seed

I feel sure that this conversation will come back to him when he sees the TV and newspaper coverage of the past few days, when the carrier bag issue appeared pretty near the top of the ‘running order’ on both TV and radio bulletins.

cynics - maybe it was a quiet News day, or week even, but who cares, it made an impact. I have noticed recently that more people are carrying cotton bags, particularly if their previous holiday destination is emblazoned on it! I will admit to carrying one brought back from Florida by a friend. It has an attractive picture on the front, which turns from natural cotton colour to a full colour picture once in sunlight. I have seen people watch it happening at the bus stop which is quite amusing. I live in terror of finding out what chemicals might be employed to make this happen however If anyone knows, answers on a postcard please.

It is more of a bind for me to change to cotton bags as they are bulkier to carry and I don’t have a car, but if you have transport than carrying a few bags in the boot ready for action can’t be that difficult. Many places are giving them away free, or they can be bought cheaply. If they get grubby they wash beautifully in a normal wash load. Oh, and the handles don't cut in to your hands like plastic ones. My fingers are usually purple and blue and numb by the time I reach home.

I don’t usually make New Year resolutions because I know I won’t keep them, so this is more in the nature of a lifestyle change, and after all I must practise what I preach, mustn’t I, now I am famous for bringing the matter to the attention of the media?

Websailor

I've been following this news item, and i'm so pleased that something positive is being done at last.
I use cotton bags and they are bulkier (no car either) Mine fold up really small, which is handy.
What i have recently found worrying, is that a certain company that produces fertiliser and chemicals for gardens, have changed from using cardboard boxes, to plastic containers.
One step forward, two steps back. 'sigh'

Venus, you re so right <>

Would it be worth writing to them and asking why, and suggesting it is a backward step. I would be interested in their reply. Perhaps it is down to cost? it might be something to do with that, or have people been complaining that stuff gets damp? One or the other I suspect.

Websailor

I have been making myself a pest at T**co recently! They have a policy that if you re-use their carrier bags, you get one point for every bag! Great!!

At some stores - though not at my local one, they provide the cardboard boxes which have housed produce under the checkouts - this is great as you can re-cycle them and they are easier to pack.

If they placed more cardboard boxes under the end of the check-outs; and less polythene bags, we could recycle more.

I appreciate that people without transport will naturally prefer carrier bags (preferably paper) to cardboard boxes. However, for those of us with cars, the chance to recycle the boxes would reduce the amount of plastic bags by a considerable amount.

I am about to make myself more of a nuisance

Scorp,

Keep being a nuisance as I gather Tesco is the least co-operative of the supermarkets at present. Only their customers can make the difference, and I am not near enough to make myself a nuisance

On the subject of paper bags, which I thought were better, take a look here - you will have to scroll down to the two ' text boxes' but it makes interesting reading from a source who knows what she is talking about:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=522769&in_page_id=1770

It is a similar argument to the one on the merits of disposable nappies and cotton terry (remember those?) but I think I still favour paper for the safety of wildlife.

Websailor

It's been many years ago now that shops started to make customers pay for plastic bags. I think one of the reasons was the increased price for mineral oil (which is used to produce these bags), and a tax on non-recycable products like plastic bags, or even the plastic trays, forks, knives etc you get when buying food on festivals. Even the ice cream parlours now offer an edible cup in addition to the waxed paper variety which is taxed.
I don't know the statistics, and I know that people still buy plastic bags, but I think their use has fallen dramatically since then. Most people want to save the money and take their own bags when shopping.

They seem to be fairly "switched on" here in France: the local upermarket (mainly used by non car drivers: no alternative) changed to eco-friendly plastic bags "only" when requested by customers, they have recyclable big ones & big freezer bags, personally, i take my own grubby cotton ones inside my home-made handbag; many people also use shopping trolleys for bigger shopping (we live on a steep hill!)...but i now get a month's shopping delivered; just can't manage the trek any more. So that uses petrol *but* since the service delivers to other older/disabled people all in one trip.... it is probably more eco-friendly than asking friends/family to help out.

zdt

Hi, B'El and Terri,

It is very interesting to hear what is happening in other countries, and as usual here in the UK we are way behind. Since I wrote the article a great deal more information has come to light and it is quite heartening to see how much is being done, but it is not enough, and not nearly quickly enough.

How we are supposed to clean up the seas Heaven only knows, but the photos I have seen are horrendous, in places where you would think there would be no litter. Something will have to be done. I clear up litter on our street because it disgusts me, and a man round the corner does a similar thing for the same reason, but my husband gets mad and says that's what we pay our council taxes for! I just do it when he isn't around

If you get time to look at the Daily Mail articles there are lots of photos and these are only the tip of the iceberg.

Thanks for reading,

Websailor

Since we have tpo pay a deposit on plastic bottles and aluminium tins, the tins have nearly vanished from the supermarkets, and especially they have vanished from the forests and many other places where people go to have a picnic, then just dispose of their waste there and then - it's a bist costly to do so now.

That's great new B'El. I recycle aluminium drink cans and foil for my charity, which has taken a few thousand out of landfill etc. but we haven't get that far yet. Plastic recycling is slowly improving, as is drinks carton recycling, but it is all voluntary at present. We have to provide carrot and stick to get anywhere worthwhile I think.

Websailor

They introduced recycling bins here decades ago. There are those for glass, for paper, for plastic, and for compost. The ones for all the rest are expensive. The aim is, to make people avoid buying heavily wrapped goods in the first place, and make them separate their waste. I think Germany has a long 'green' history, it all started with the 'Greens' (political party) in the late 1970s. Since then, they have consequently fought for environmental issues, and some things, like recycling paper (and buying recycled goods) has become something of a habit here for many.

This is all very green, but what do you put your household waste into?

What do you mean: household waste? Every household here separates its waste into recycables and non-recycables.

I mean food waste - sloppy left overs - you can't recycle that.
And here we cannot recycle everything - only cans, papers, fabric and glass jars. The rest is put out for the bin men in plastic bags. I use supermarket bags to put it in. So what do you do with your "non-recyclables"?

Well, I said we have bins for non-recycable stuff. It's just that they are quite expensive. Depending on where you live, the company that collects them either burns them, or buries them in the ground - which, as you can imagine, can get problematic, so burning is the preferred method. The warmth produced by this is then directed to nearby households for heating. It's much cheaper than oil or gas heating, but unfortunately not available if you live too far away.

Its not just plastic bags that cause the problem, I remember when I stopped our car to go for a...cal of nature, I found stacks of plastic bottles and containers and a lot of other stuff that will never rot away through time
I carry a big M&S canvas bag, that we bought months ago, it can hold stacks, only thing is, I have to use the shopping trolley to bring it in from the car.
Smudger.

Hi, Carole,

I can now recycle plastic carrier bags through a supermarket, recycle glass jars and bottles, plastic bottles and cans (both steel and aluminium), paper and cardboard including magazines, catalogues and telephone directories, garden waste, cardboard milk/drink cartons, a specific brand of water filters, magazine film wrap, postage stamps, shoes, clothing, computer equipment etc. Some of that involves some time and effort on my part, but it is satisfying.

There is a company in the Midlands which has started recycling all plastics without the need for sorting in to type, and I understand my local council is looking in to that with interest. The recycled plastic is made in to fence posts, pallets, garden furniture etc. for long term use.

I compost all vegetable peelings, eggshells etc. (but not meat or bread), feed (very little) left over biscuits, cake, bread, rice, potatoes, pasta and cheese etc. to the birds, along with all used cooking oils and fat. Fruit goes to the badgers and occasionally the birds. Foxes will eat absolutely anything, almost to the point of putrid but I have to make sure it is in covered dishes to avoid attracting rats.

I collect elastic bands the postmen drop, wash and save them, use worn out clothes as cleaning cloths and dusters, and I re-use envelopes and wrapping paper, Xmas and birthday cards. Buttons, zips and laces are removed too.

I used to be able to recycle used timber but unfortunately the yard closed. Screws, nails, washers, nuts and bolts,hinges, wire, cable and string is stored for future use, as are paper clips, and the wire out of old calendars. And no, our house is not like Steptoe's....yet!!!! but we rarely have to buy expensive balloon packs for just a few screws etc.

Of course it drives my husband mad, especially when I do it for other people too, but I don't care. We shall have to do it eventually so I believe we should get in to the habit now, as far as possible, and put pressure on our local councils to do more, and quickly.

Our actual household waste black bag is rarely more than half full. I hate polystyrene packaging around electrical goods etc. Good for protection it may be but it is a to get rid of!

The only way we will get recycling universal in this country is to keep pestering our councils. councillors and the Government, making it known that it is very much an election issue.

It makes me angry that there are so many opportunities for employment in recycling, if only people would wake up to them.

about that folks. I will now retire to a darkened room till the next time.

Websailor

No need to retire to a darkened room WS! I thoughroughly agree with you

Good Grief, you read quickly Scorp Thanks for the support I thought perhaps I had overdone it

Off to update the badger/birdie thread. Hope you are keeping well. When do the caravans open again? Time's flying again this year.

Websailor

I totally agree Webbie, my only problem is that since i can't walk too well at times, & have very little space for the separate bags & no garden for compost making...i am limited. All the systems exist here, but if you're "less thatn normally walkabout" you have to go & do it yourself: i simply can't.

So: I've joined the local Green party & am on the board for this issue in particular...i am very vocal & have an Agenda...

I recycle everything possible,plus i snoop around bins looking for stuff that people have chucked out, which with a bit of work, can be got going again, such as the seasonable plant displays in the park, a carpet with one tiny stain, numerous computer & stereo bits & pieces.

Most of the food stuff leftovers i remake into another recipe, or freeze (tiny freezer; use margarine tubs for individual portions)or if carnivore fiends arrive (& cook for themselves using the separate pans) & have leftovers, i put out for street cats.

I use all sorts of stuff in my "cheeseboxes" assemblage stuff & write down ideas & lists on the back of envelopes.

I would imagine my carbon = negligable; since i am also vegetarian.

That in itself is the one thing which would make most difference to the future of the planet; but i am not here to preach to anyone.

zdt