Pampered pets, profligate packaging

We all love our pets, and want to look after them. But do they appreciate the packaging of their food? Do they really want their food to come in individually-packaged single servings, or is this just clever marketing?

We visited some supermarkets to look at pet food packaging.

Look at the spoilt cat on this tin of cat food from Sainsbury's. 85g of cat food in its very own tin. What a waste!


This dog food at Tesco also comes in individual portions, this time in thick foil trays. We wonder how many of these are washed out and recycled? Call us sceptics, but we suspect that most of them end up as landfill. Why not buy a larger tin of dog food, and use it over several days?


Apparently normal cow's milk is no longer good enough for our cats. This Felix cat milk has reduced lactose for sensitive moggies. It also comes in its own small plastic bottle.


Whether essential nutrition or marketing ploy, we don't really mind if customers want to pay extra for their pet food. We do care about the packaging, though! Well-meaning pet owners transport all this packaging home, and discard it on a regular basis. Our pets won't notice, but our environment surely will.

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Vegetables: From soil to sealed

Remember when you used to pick your own vegetables at the supermarket, put them in a plastic bag, then take them to the counter to be weighed?

Apparently this practice is not convenient, hygienic, protective or appealing enough for modern supermarkets and shoppers. The idea of putting vegetables in a plastic tray, sealing the top with plastic film and bar-coding the package is becoming more widespread. It started with 'boutique' vegetables like imported mange tout, but nowadays even the most mundane vegetable gets the over-packaging treatment. We found plenty of examples at Sainsbury's:

Mange tout offer a classic example of the tray/clingfilm treatment. We are so used to seeing mange tout like this that we don't even notice it's abnormal!


Next comes the triple: sugarsnap, babycorn and 'tenderstem', all in separate compartments. But the 'tenderstem' moniker can't hide the fact that broccoli has been cunningly elevated to 'tray/clingfilm' status. A worrying trend!


'Casserole selection pack' - what's going on here? Since when did parsnips, carrots and potatoes need the protection of a ridged plastic tray?


And here you have it: the most mundane vegetable of all gets packaged! For centuries, potatoes had made their way from field to kitchen with no more protection than their own skins. But now JS Sainsbury has felt it necessary that they be separated into pairs and safely tucked into plastic trays.


I'm sorry to say this, Mr Sainsbury, but promoting recycling does not make up for this kind of waste. Most of these unnecessary plastic trays will end up as landfill. Even those that are sorted and recycled will waste energy in manufacture, transport and recycling. Keep it simple: get rid of the packaging!

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Excessive packaging and Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the obligation of businesses to take account of economic, social and environmental impacts in the way they operate. The government consider CSR so important that they have assigned responsibility to a government minister, and set up a dedicated CSR website. We believe that the economic, social and environmental impacts of a single family generating 50kg of packaging a month warrant some attention from companies serious about CSR.

We surfed to nine of the UK's largest supermarkets to see what they are doing about excessive packaging in the name of CSR. We've ranked their packaging reduction progress and pledges, starting with the best, and ending with the weakest.

1. Waitrose are top of the class. They tell us they've already reduced packaging by weight both in absolute and relative terms, and that they will continue to do so. The figures are on the website. Well done, Waitrose!
2. Sainsbury's gain some credit for supplying a target: 5% reduction in packaging by 2010. What a shame that this target is "relative to turnover".
3. Asda will deliver "absolute reductions in packaging weight" by March 2010. It's a start!
4. Morrisons "are working to find innovative packaging solutions to eliminate or reduce the need for packaging". Are paper bags innovative enough, Morrisons?
5. Tesco, Britain's largest retailer, pledge to "support the principle of recovery, recycling and re-use". Aren't the green 3Rs usually given as reduce, recycle and re-use? On the plus side, Tesco are now "concentrating on other packaging reduction projects".
   
6. Marks and Spencer make a worrying start by emphasising the importance of packaging. There are no pledges, but according to their 2005 CSR report they aim to work "on packaging reduction initiatives."
   
7. Co-op Food and Somerfield both make much of biodegradable plastic bags and recycling, but make no pledges to reduce packaging.
8. Iceland have a rather sparse CSR page, which is limited to fish and whale protection. No mention of packaging here.

So congratulations to Waitrose for making progress, and to Sainsbury's and Asda for making pledges. A good beginning, but don't let complacency set in, there's a long way to go! As for the rest of the supermarkets: you must do better!

We shall go on visiting supermarkets to see what's happening to on the 'shop floor'. Remember, email the webmaster at totallywasted.org with your photos and stories of over-packaging.

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