What an Awful Waste!

I am very much concerned about how much waste there is around.

When this ecological trend started, three R’s became popular. They are Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Of these three ones, I always think that if recycling is important and necessary, reducing and reusing should come first.

Whenever I go shopping, it really annoys me to see every item fully wrapped up.

Why the hell do I/we want a couple of aubergines wrapped up in cellophane paper as though they were a Christmas present? I always ask myself.

Plastic…

Trays…

Cling film…

All sorts of two-for-three offers appear well-wrapped on shelves…

The list can be endless.

In supermarkets and department stores, the management will say that they do it for comfort and presentation. Nonsense! It is extra rubbish that we add up into our bins, no matter how careful we might be in separating our rubbish or waste to willingly place it in the different containers.

I once was a customer to a well known cosmetics brand name. I liked it because; 1) their products were good and affordable, 2) they never advertised on TV or glossy magazines whose adverts cost a fortune, and 3) the presentation, although basic, was attractive enough and they reused their cream pots and bottles. In some countries, they even had a refilling system, which consisted in bringing to them our used bottles to refill. That explained why their products weren’t expensive.

The management of this firm changed and so did their commercial policy.

As far as I know, in very few countries, they have tackled the issue seriously and they have even created an industry. But in many others, I am afraid they fail to pass the test on environmental matters.

They may say that glass, tin, paper and carton boards are used to make other commodities, which is sometimes true, but either we reduce our excess of waste a bit more or the Earth will soon become a huge landfill.

 Ouch, it makes me shudder!