Blogtober Day 16: Excess packaging and what you can do about it...

Disclaimer: I haven't been paid to promote any company or service, nor am I trying to run any down either, it's just a minor rant about the sheer volume of waste going on around us, and hopefully a couple of possible solutions that might help. 

Hi Honeys, 

Do you ever feel as if you're trying to do the best you can to reuse, recycle and avoid waste and then it's like the outside world deliberately trips us up?  We're all trying to do what we can to avoid wasting anything but sometimes though, it really is outwith our control, such as when we order goods online and companies deliver them... well, like this....

First a little background about the above order.  Our furbaby Jade adores these little trays of food.  It's not her main food, she has a grain free, wheat free (and any other unhealthy additives such as bulking agents free) dry kibble as well as her fresh (though cooked) proteins such as chicken, salmon and tuna.  She does though, really enjoy these little meals and has them now and again as a treat. 

Having recently ordered four packs (with each pack having four tiny 150g trays so a total of 16 little trays) I was shocked to have them delivered in four different boxes, all delivered together, at the same time, by the same delivery driver.  Now, since the trays, and indeed the boxes, aren't large.  This leads me to ask, why?  Why use four different boxes, with four different address labels (extra paper and ink all used of course) all going to the same destination at the same time?  

Sorry.  Could I have a minute please honeys?  Thank you....

....gets up and does 3 circuits of the coffee table waving arms in the air in a frustrated sort of angry thing... really quietly though, you know.... because Jade is having a nap on the sofa 💖 

Well, (..covers Jade with her blankie...) As annoying as this was, it got me thinking.  We're all of us doing our best, trying to live our lives with as little negative impact on the world around us as we can and when something like this happens, it makes me go on a serious guilt trip! I mean, I ordered those boxes of food.  My fault. 

I do have reasons for ordering them online.  We don't own a car, the senior version of this food isn't so easy to find in our local supermarket (our baby will be 11 in March) so finding it online and being able to have it delivered seemed too good to be true! 

I really am grateful to have our baby Jade's food delivered honeys but this experience has really made me reconsider.  So, how do we let the companies we buy from know how we feel about this kind of waste of resources?  

Why not grab a cuppa (and maybe a cookie or two) and join me after the page break and I'll share (hopefully) a couple of useful solutions and one very exhausting adventure I went on, see you in a few mins honeys...

Welcome back dear ones, do you have your cuppa?  Me too ☕ Put your feet up then and enjoy x

Let's find solutions... 

As consumers, we have a great deal of power over shops and how they do business.  Simply put, they rely on us and our custom to stay in business. So, if we find that a company that we deal with as a customer, engages in damaging practices, such as using excessive packaging, there are ways to make our opinion known to them.

Am I saying we should all demand to be allowed to run their business? No, of course not! We do however have the right, as customers, to be heard and there are usually ways to do this if we search them out.

Of course, our ways of voicing our opinions will depend on whether we're doing business in person, such as making an in-store purchase, or by making an online purchase through their website.  

Shopping in person:

When shopping in your local supermarket, you'll find that most stores will be more than happy to allow you to leave unwanted packaging at the checkout.  I work in retail and under the checkouts in the store where I work there are bins.  One is always designated a hanger bin. Another is for recyclables. 

Clothes: 

Should you buy any clothing from the store, you don't have to take those plastic hangers home with you.  Instead, you can remove the hanger from the garment and hand it to the checkout operator.  He/she will then put it into the hanger bin and it will be re-used again.  This helps prevent more hangers being ordered and produced and keeps your wardrobe free of those plastic hangers.

Food packaging: 

Again, with a little preparation (such as bringing our re-usable grocery bags/totes and produce bags with us) we don't have to bring all of the excess packaging home from the store with us.  While packing your shop at the checkout, why not remove the bag of cereal from its oversized, bulky box and hand the cardboard box to the checkout operator?  

The cardboard will then be placed into the recycle bin under the checkout and will be recycled with all of the other cardboard/paper waste the store generates.  Imagine how many boxes stock arrives in before being placed onto the shelves honeys?  

Supermarkets already recycle this packaging but if enough customers begin making their feelings known by leaving behind the excess cardboard and plastic from their shop at the checkouts, I have no doubt companies will listen and pass that message on to the producers of these products. A follow up letter to your supermarket, or to their head office, (find addresses through Google or check your till receipt) might also help to reinforce your message too.

Online shopping:

This brings us back to our original offender, the company responsible for sending me on a so-many-boxes-for-one-order-it's-silly guilt trip.              

Now there was a time, you might remember, when, on the right hand side of the details of each order from Amazon, there was a very user friendly button.  A one click solution to leaving feedback about the packaging used in that order.

As you can see honeys, this button has now been removed:

This makes leaving feedback a little more difficult but it can be done if we're determined enough. 

In order to leave feedback we now have to click through several pages, as follows:   

1. First, we have to search for their "help and customer service" page (use the search bar at the top of the page honeys) and from there, we choose the option for "dispatch and delivery" 

2. As you can see this opens a page with information on Amazon packaging, with four options.  From this, we choose the first option, packaging programmes this will open another (yes another) page which looks like this...

3. On this page, we want to scroll all the way down through the text and find the " contact us" link and click on it.  

This will of course open (yet) another page (rolls eyes.)  

4. When I pressed the contact us link, I was asked to sign in to Amazon (even though I was already signed in) and once done, it took me to a page asking what I'd like to contact them about. I selected the box marked something else... 

Now, if you're anything like I was at this point, you'll be starting to lose the will to live, so if you're in the UK, you can skip to this step directly by clicking here  Oddly enough, this takes us to the USA site, so the link will work for our American cousins too.   

5. At the bottom of this page you'll see tell us more above a drop down menu.  The 5th item on this drop down menu is give Amazon feedback and when this is selected we have 3 choices (and my eyes roll so hard I feel as if I should be able to see the inside of my slippers and I also feel the urge to cry a little if I'm honest)

From this screen, which again (to save you from ageing as much as I just have) can be reached at this link, you'll be able to choose to send Amazon an email, phone customer service or chat with a customer service representative using one of those little chat windows that pop up.  

I would hope that (after going through more adventures than any explorer, just trying to reach this page) that the chat button would connect us with an actual, live human person and not a bot. 

I had the misfortune to have to deal with a bot at the Royal Mail site while trying to trace a parcel a few days ago and I still haven't recovered. So frustrating, and very bad for an already high blood pressure!  I so miss the days of wandering up to a counter and speaking to a real, live human person who could solve our problems with a smile.  That really did used to happen honeys, honestly.         

It's all very well to recycle like it's our jobs, but if shops and producers of the items we buy don't also chip in to help, we'll never cut waste enough to make a difference. Let's use our people power honeys, let's convince the powers that be, the big supermarkets, the online suppliers, that we're serious. We only have the one world, let's stand up for it.  Let's be it's voice. 

Links:

Simple Swaps For Sustainable Living  A little over view on what we've been doing to try to reduce the single use items in our home.

Reusable Produce Bags There are no words for how much I adore these little bags and they have so many uses too.  

Have you visited Jenna, and her fabulous blog Life of an Earth Muffin honeys?  She has the best blog with so many tips and ideas for sustainable living and she's the sweetest person too. You can find her wonderful blog here, if you visit, do say hello to Jenna x

There is a great article (with some breathtakingly beautiful photos) from The Scotsman, about the growth of sustainable living solutions, such as living off grid, in Scotland. It's a great read honeys, you can find it here.   

Again from the Scotsman, here is an article on five alternative communities in Scotland, all living life their way and it sounds wonderful! You can read the article here honeys.    

A really useful site with lots of information, from Less Waste, can be found here.  They have lots of tips on how to reuse, recycle and reduce the waste we generate. They also have hints on how to formally complain about excessive packaging, including reporting cases to Trading Standards.

Good grief this has been a long post!  I'm sorry honeys, I hope it's been interesting (well, other than that very long process of how to complain to Amazon... sorry about that, I just wanted to share how infuriating it was) You deserve another cuppa after all of this, and definitely another cookie 😊

Till next time dear ones, thank you for keeping me company, stay safe and warm everyone, hugs always xx

ps: Apologies for tonight's post being a little late, not feeling great today.  Don't worry, I'll be fine, just feeling very drained today is all.  Hugs honeys xx