Making a Difference?


I was girding my loins to have one of my regular rants about plastic packaging when spotting the above message stopped me in my tracks. You can't see why that is? Have a look at the right hand bag in the picture below taken this time last year...
... it (the bag in the top picture) has the magic letters LDPE. Still none the wiser? Well, my Mixed Messages post about plastic packaging last year suggested the information on the lower bag would be much more helpful if it told us the type of plastic it was so I'd have the information needed to decide whether I could in fact recycle it.
So LDPE tells me I can recycle via the collection bin for plastic bags at my local supermarket :) The change has also got me wondering if my rant last year made a difference: I did email both Morrison's and Recycle Now about it, but sadly neither have bothered to reply except for the standard 'thank you for your enquiry' :(
However, I'm still going to think that I have, just so I can add it to my Making a Difference category in my New Life's Resolutions. I've also resolved to write to my MP about this matter. It strikes me we need a system where plastic is always labelled with what type it is and all the recycling outlets clearly show which kinds are accepted. OK, ideally we should be refusing/reducing our usage, but I see that as a long term goal. My idea's a baby step which sets us on the path to get there...
What difference(s) are you planning to make this year?

Comments

  1. Shirley6 January 2011 at 10:03

    Mixed messages indeed VP, I understand your need for a rant.

    What differences for this year? Perhaps solve the mystery that is composting.

    Re recycling... buy more fresh fruit and veg not in packaging :-)

    Wishing you a fun (rant free) weekend... unless of course you enjoy ranting and in which case... rant, rant, rant ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Katy6 January 2011 at 12:46

    Hello, many countries have this system already.

    Australia actually has a very good one with a triangle and in it numbers 1 -6 I think which indicate what type of plastic it is.

    You don't actually have to know what the numbers mean, but different councils will recycle different, sometimes all the plastics and they stick on the recycle bins the numbers which numbers they will take.

    By law it must be on all plastics.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Unknown6 January 2011 at 14:17

    I agree, all plastics should be labelled, not just the containers.

    We just started making our own soda last month so we don't have all those bottles of waste to worry about recycling. One of these days I'm going to replace all of our plastic leftover containers with stainless steel.

    ReplyDelete
  4. petoskystone6 January 2011 at 15:20

    the one thing about plastics recycling that i appreciate from local supermarkets is the bin marked especially for the plastic shopping bags to be recycled in.
    i plan in making a difference in the wee garden by properly boosting the soil. i plan on making a difference with my grandchildren most notably by tutoring the eldest in her reading. i plan on making a difference within by aggressively charting goal progress (so the goals don't just evaporate into the ether!)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anna6 January 2011 at 16:41

    I remember your rant :) Can't help but thinking that matters might sometimes be more straightforward for retailers if all local authorities batted from the same wicket.

    Here last year we were admitted to a scheme run by Recycle Bank, whereby householders get rewards (points system) for recycling. These can then be exchanged for money off vouchers or donated as cash to nominated local school projects. I think that there are presently only two local authorities involved but it is a further incentive to really scrutinise your rubbish carefully and reduce landfill.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Kevin Smith6 January 2011 at 18:36

    I'm constantly confused by plastic recycling and all the 'rules'. I dread to think how much time I spend studying packaging before I decide which bin it should be destined for.

    ReplyDelete
  7. VP7 January 2011 at 08:29

    Shirl - I'm with you on avoiding packaging of possible. I have my own produce bags and need to persuade NAH to use them too. Our local farm shop has paper bags available which I like a lot.

    Katy - we have the triangle system too, so in my example we're looking at number four. The problem is that it's not been widely adopted. Even the 'standard' system proposed by Recycle Now isn't pushing exact labelling. I find it hard to believe that no-one seems to be looking at the whole process chain from the point of view of the consumer. Information is sporadic, inconsistent and simply not there. No wonder the majority of people don't bother.

    Cinj - happy new year! I've started making my own cordial too and use glass for storing.

    Petoskystone - I like your goals for this year :)

    Anna - I'd heard about that scheme and was wondering how it's going. Are people actually responding to the 'carrot' in sufficient numbers to make a difference?

    Kevin - welcome! At least you do that studying :) I suspect the majority of people don't bother and just put their plastic straight in the bin destined for landfill :(

    ReplyDelete
  8. Dee @ Red Dirt Ramblings8 January 2011 at 03:06

    I plant to eat more at home so we don't waste gas. Also, to make fewer trips to town.

    Interesting about the bags.

    ReplyDelete
  9. VP8 January 2011 at 08:15

    Dee - I think plenty of people here will be joining you in making less trips, or keeping things more local. The cost of petrol (gas) has just reached a record high!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Lu10 January 2011 at 22:21

    absolutely with you on the need for more information about plastic recycling. It maddens me when there is no information but the suggestion to go off and check with your local recycling centre - it's only 7 miles away after all! I think there is slow improvement but it should definitely be faster.

    ReplyDelete
  11. VP16 January 2011 at 19:46

    Lu - you can also find out online via the Recycle Now website. What really annoys me is what's on the plastic isn't usually what's shown on the recycling websites nor at the recycling centres (or home collections for those lucky enough to have one).

    I'm surprised people manage to recycle their plastic at all seeing no-one seems to have looked at the process from start to finish. I'm sure this is an area where we could easily improve the rates of plastic recycling without too much effort. It's a simple matter of making the right information available and consistently.

    As soon as people need to find out the information in order to be able to make a decision on whether they can recycle, the majority will simply throw it away in the bin that gets taken to landfill.

    ReplyDelete

New comments are not allowed.

Your essential reads

That blue flower: A spring spotter's guide

Image
Spring is a prime time for blue flowers and my daily walks currently have several from the same plant family* lining the local footpaths. As I walked past the Donkey Field the other day, I overheard some children ask their parents** what the pictured blue flower was. It reminded me it's often mistaken for those other familial blues and this time was no different, as they said it was forget-me-not, instead of the green alkanet it actually is. As well as similar flowers, most of these plants are hairy in their nature, flower around the same time, and favour damp, shady places. Many of them are great for pollinators too, especially bees and this week's warm weather has certainly drawn them to these flowers. This makes it even more likely for these plants to be mistaken for each other and it's a great opportunity for me to put together a spotter's guide in case you find the same flowers on your outings. Staying with green alkanet, the key features which set it
Read more

Jack Go To Bed At Noon

Image
Last year this rather exotic looking flower appeared on mine and several other allotments for the first time. Having been stumped (again) by Mr Allotment Warden as to its identity, I rushed home to find out what it was. It's salsify, aka the marvellous Jack Go To Bed At Noon - named as such because its flowers always close by midday. Here you can see both open and closed flowers - making it seem even more exotic and alien than in the first picture. I think this must be the cultivated version because the flower in my Francis Rose Wild Flower Key looks exactly the same in form, but is bright yellow in colour and called meadow salsify . Its other common name is Goatsbeard, which must be a nod to the fantastic dandelion-like clock which forms the seed head. With 'parachutes' like those shown above, who knows how far our plotted plants came from. I rather like the photographic dissection of the seedhead found in this link . Salsify is edible: its lateral shoots and fl
Read more

Red Nose Day - Gardening Jokes Anyone?

Image
The nation goes ever so slightly bonkers on Red Nose Day - hurrah! Previously, it's been very easy to join in - usually via a dress down day at work plus lots of people up to mad things at the station and in the office. Everyone smiling for once - it's a real feel good day and all in a good cause. This year's different - every day's a dress down day for me now - my friend L suggested yesterday that perhaps I could have a dress up day instead and whilst that's a good idea, I confess that ballgowns and tiaras don't really feature in my wardrobe: scruffy student's always been my favourite look. So my Red Nose Day contribution for this year is to compile a list of gardening related jokes. For each one (clean ones only please) you leave in the comments below, I'll make a donation of 50p to the cause. Here's a few for starters just to get you warmed up: Q Why do potatoes make good detectives? A Because they keep their eyes peeled. Q What did the grape
Read more

Salad Days: Mastering Lettuce

Image
I've decided one of my salad challenges for this year is to grow as many lettuce varieties as I can, ready for the publication of my planned Factsheet* later on. The idea is to grow as many of the Tried and Trusted lettuce varieties last year's Salad Challengers helped compile, then provide a visual guide and as many lettuce facts as I can muster. So far I've found around half of those listed**. Then naturally whilst I was out searching - because such is the way with seeds - a number of other varieties found their way home too ;) A couple of weeks ago I sowed 22 varieties***. Just the simple act of sowing them has me intrigued. Why are some lettuce seeds black and others white****? They split into about half white to half black in my sample and as far as I can tell it's nothing to do with whether they're a type of cos, iceberg, or whatever. I sowed them indoors and popped them into a propagator on the windowsill. The soil's too cold outside for sowing
Read more

VPs VIPs: Derry Watkins of Special Plants

Image
Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Derry Watkins at her home, garden and nursery - the acclaimed Special Plants - just a few miles along the road from me. I first met Derry at one of her open garden days last year and was keen to find out more about her wonderful garden and running an independent nursery. She specialises in tender perennials and regularly goes on plant hunting trips to find new treasures, particularly in South Africa. As well as running Special Plants and opening her garden under the NGS scheme , Derry holds day courses at her nursery, hosts Special Tuesdays from April until September, lectures and has written a couple of books. How did you find your way from Connecticut to the UK? I'd started a biodynamic vegetable garden in Connecticut and we used to have people come along at weekends to help out. A particular young man turned up: he returned many times and at the end of the summer I married him. So it was all down to love? Isn't that the
Read more

#mygardenrightnow: heading into summer with the Chelsea Fringe

Image
Ahhhhhh, that's better! I love walking through dewy grass in bare feet, not that there's much in the way of grass on my back lawn this weekend. My wild and woolly lawn has morphed into meadow of sorts this month, which even NAH admits looks attractive*. It's also proved a great source for my Flowers for mum project so far, yielding self-sown perennial cornflowers, lamb's ears, and lemon balm in addition to the blooms you can see. These originated from elsewhere in the garden, the ox-eye daisies must have blown in from the A350 nearby. * = he got very stroppy about the weeds aka self-sown foxgloves in the lawn one year, so he's come along a bit since then. Skimble's demanding to say hello to you too. He does enjoy the patio when it warms up. If the embedded video doesn't work try this link instead. The Nectaroscordum are a revelation. I planted the bulbs around 2 years ago, but it's only this year they've bloomed properly. The bee
Read more

The Resilient Garden

Image
  Part of Tom Massey's Resilient Garden at RHS Hampton Court I've been pondering VP Gardens a lot lately. Last year's drought conditions set me off initially, then our harsher than usual winter combined with this summer's flip and flop weather means the thinking continues. It's a huge topic which I freely admit I'm struggling to get my head around. Tom Massey's Resilient Garden  at Hampton Court recently  tackled this topic brilliantly and was a timely interlude which gave me much food for thought. There he encapsulated the detailed research he'd found which informed both his show garden and book of the same name. I think it's one of the most important show gardens I've ever seen. It's clear the way I garden needs to change so that I have my own resilient garden. I haven't worked out the exact details yet, but Tom's book plus a couple of others (see below), alongside the rainwater management handout from the show garden's  sponso
Read more

Testing Times: Tomatoes

Image
  I've run a couple of tomato trials this year. The first is a revisit of the biochar trial with Oxford University I attempted some years ago (with a different organisation this time), and the second is a trial of a water gadget called Plantsurge which I was given to try at Malvern Spring Show earlier this year. Most of you have probably heard of biochar already and the claim that this inert, carbon-rich material can help soil fertility and plant health. The RHS information in the above link says results can be mixed, with reduced effects found in alkaline soils. This may help to explain the lack of difference I found in my previous trial as VP Gardens is on a lime-rich soil. Plantsurge is a different beast altogether. It's a strong magnet which is attached to a hosepipe as shown in the photo above. It's claimed that it softens water, with the result more like watering with rainwater. The higher nitrogen found in rainwater is thought to be beneficial to plants. Gardener
Read more

Chelsea Fringe 2014: Shows of Hands - Episode I

Image
The gloves NAH used to build the raised bed . The effects are L to R, top to bottom:  Original photo, Warhol, HDR, Green tint, B&W, Posterize, Boost, Cross process and Sepia Welcome to Shows of Hands - my Chelsea Fringe project for 2014! As you can see I've been having a bit of a play around in Pic Monkey for my first contribution. You're welcome to join in between now and 8th June 2014. The idea behind this year's project is to highlight the tool most precious to a gardener: their hands. How do I take part? It's simple. All you need to do is take a photo of hand(s) in a gardening context and then share it via your blog or other social media (such as Twitter or Facebook), then make sure I know you've done so. I've set up Mr Linky below for your blog contributions. The Chelsea Fringe photo on the right sidebar links to this post, so you can easily find it again when you're ready to add your contribution. If you share your photo on Twitter,
Read more

Make Use of Mildew

Image
On my garden patrol this morning I spotted some powdery mildew on a couple of my new Verbena bonariensis plants. I suppose it was almost inevitable as I prefer to grow my plants hard - this means no water for them unless they look absolutely desperate. This approach means plants root themselves more deeply and have a better chance of survival during spells of dry weather like we've had lately. However, it also means I run the risk of problems like today's, especially with any garden newbies planted late in the season. We've had a good drop of rain overnight, so this should help my plants survive. I'll mulch them later today to help lock in the moisture as it's water stress which encourages the mildew to take hold. I've also removed the infected leaves and sprayed the rest with a milky drink.* I'm also pleased to find there's a use for my infected leaves. Oliver Ellingham at Reading University has started a PhD - sponsored by the RHS - researchi
Read more