plastic bottles

Reading article "plastic bottles" - Reply to this / 13 comment(s)
I've seen great examples of supermarkets taking back empty drink bottles (plastic) after use. You pay 20P on top of the price of your bottle of choice and the 20P is refunded when you return the bottles to the same shop. I'd LOVE to see that in the UK. Reply to this

Comments

1. Supermarkets could take the lead here by duncan, 492 days ago

   They're coming in for so much criticism when it comes to breaking up local communities and creating these out-of-town shopping centres. It would be great if they took the lead in this kind of carrot-and-stick, low-level recycling.

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   1. Re: Supermarkets could take the lead here by suttree, 491 days ago

      Interestingly, I just came across this Guardian.co.uk article about Supermarkets and their approach to all things green:
      
      http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/ethicallivi...
      
      "Tesco, apparently alarmed by public antipathy towards its general monstrosity and vast profits, is to unveil a 'community plan' and has already installed sun-pipes and a wind turbine at its new store in Diss, Norfolk."
      
      Bless, they're getting there..

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2. far fetched by ninikins, 490 days ago

   Instead of doing stuff like that they should worry about the mess theyre creating everyday by selling products in packaging that ends up creating a huge pile of waste with bags and bottles.

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   1. Re: far fetched by jhoffman, 489 days ago

      Do they have resources for recycling plastic bags and suchlike at these big supermarkets? It's really frustrating how people will take more shopping bags for the smallest things. The Co=op makes plastic bags designed to break down within a year or so, I've heard.

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      1. Re: Re: far fetched by jules, 486 days ago

         biodegradeable plastics do you mean? Kleeneze (home catalogue, like avon) sells biodegradeable plastic binliners of all sizes. Ikea recycles plastics. It is situated at the exit (how convenient!!!)

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         1. Re: Re: Re: far fetched by suttree, 486 days ago

            Wow, two thing..
            
            They do? And, they do?
            
            Great comment, thanks jules :)

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         2. Re: Re: Re: far fetched by jhoffman, 484 days ago

            Exactly! Biodegradable! That's the one! I've had a serious mental block with that word lately. I don't know why.
            
            But it's really great that big companies are taking this idea on - if only more supermarkets like Tesco, Sainsbury's etc. will do it.
            
            They probably will eventually, but there's no time like the present.

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3. More recycling? by sopaman, 483 days ago

   If implemented, this would be one of those funny cases of going backwards to go forwards - in the past it was completely standard for a deposit to be paid on glass bottles, to be refunded on return or else carried over on the next purchase.
   
   In mainland Europe, I believe such schemes are more widespread already, I don't know why they aren't in the UK.

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   1. Re: More recycling? by ecosrights, 483 days ago

      But then, in the past we had the right idea about a lot of things. It's this whole "disposable society" that's created so many problems. People were more likely to grow their own veg and have a compost heap 50 years ago... and they'd think nothing of taking a bag with them to do the shopping.

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4. Environment problem is hard by geline, 481 days ago

   
   It is so hard to solve environmental problems unless strict implementation is being done. Requiring a deposit for plastic bottles is a good way to get back these bottles and have them recycled. We must use these plastics in all ways we can so that minimize the garbage and thus, help save our environment.
   

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   1. Re: Environment problem is hard by jhoffman, 478 days ago

      When I was in Toronto, they had these bins that are divided into sections for Plastics, Paper and other Rubbish. Which I thought was really great - there are a couple on the Southbank in London, but if these became standard all over the country, it could get a lot of people into the good habit of separating out their rubbish for recycling.

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5. :/ by ninikins, 480 days ago

   They really need to impose such an idea on other disposable things. It really makes people recycle these items. Too many people just don't see bottle banks...they just walk right past.

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6. v by Green Diva, 468 days ago

   In the United States there have been "bottle laws" for nearly 30 yrs. Like you've described. While it's solved one problem, it's all the safety packaging that really creates trash problems.

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