Don't tax my bin - tax Tesco

In the latest Orwellian move to be introduced to Britain, councils are on the verge of starting pay-as-you-throw rubbish collection with micro-chipped wheelie bins.

Already stories are surfacing of furious locals ripping the chips out of their bins and trying to stash their rubbish in others' bins. Of course, whether these tales are true is questionable - clue if the report involves anyone brandishing a pitchfork it probably isn’t - but you can guarantee that they soon will be.

The whole rubbish debate is going to ignite in this country and I am praying that for once we learn to stand up for ourselves and say we want the real problem targeted.

Because while I think we should be recycling more, I don’t think it’s me or you that should be taxed – it’s Tesco.

The biggest creator of rubbish in this country is our supermarkets, with their obsession with little plastic trays, individually wrapped fruit, different plastic bottles that can’t be recycled together and other such lunacy.

If I took all the rubbish I created in a week, then I bet at least 80% of it would be uneccessary packaging. I recycle everything I can and my council, Islington, is reasonably good in what it takes, but there’s still loads of stuff that can’t be recycled and I have no option but to bin it.

Is that my fault? No, it’s Tesco’s.

Perhaps instead of targeting me, the Government should be turning its attention to Tesco, which made £904m profit in the UK over the past six months, and the other supermarket giants.

And when it comes to fortnightly collection, my binmen went on strike for two weeks in August and I can testify that leaving rubbish for that long is a stinking, rat-attracting health hazard.

So far, about the sum total of the supermarket’s efforts has been to say that they will cut down on carrier bags. This is a somewhat lame effort when we’re on the verge of being forced to have dalek wheelie-bins and keep rotting rubbish for two weeks.

So Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrison’s, Waitrose etc. what are you going to do to help?

- Simon Lambert, This is Money

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Comments

[Barry]

No, Simon, it isn't Tesco's fault, it is yours for buying at Tesco in the first place.
Surely, the golden rule should be "let the polluter pay" and I believe the polluter is the person who buys the rubbish in the first place. I still use my local greengrocer and butcher who use adequate but not superfluous packaging.

As far as "pay as you throw" goes, I am all in favour. Why should the old lady living alone pay the same Council Tax contribution towards refuse collection as the multi child family who generate mountains of refuse, especially disposable nappies. Again, let the polluter pay

[Brian Scrimshaw]

Well that`s fine for the little old lady who has all day to "potter" between her local butcher and local greengrocers and local hardware shop....if she`s lucky enough to have a local parade of shops containing them but for the majority of full time workers these local shops have had the "closed" sign up way before the huge majority of supermarket customers shop after 6pm and on Sundays.

[Stephen Poulton]

Everyone needs to reduce the amount of rubbish we throw out, it is not the fault of any one individual - we must all do more. Since different bins were introduced it has focused my mind upon sorting out the rubbish. I have three council bins plus an old metal bin I retained for glass. What interests me is how the councils will use the information about my refuse type/quantity - are they going to tailor my community charge accordingly? They would then be financially encouraging people to recycle and if we do it, then people power will force the retailers etc to change - is that going to happen?

[Mia]

You are so right Simon! But it's not only supermarkets, but manufacturing companies as well. For instance - why does a tube of toothpaste need to be packed in an extra little box, when tubes of cream cheese can be sold without?

[Rita Walters]

Consumers are not overly concerned with extra 'sales-gimmick' wrapping. It's the large supermarkets who insist that the outer wrapping must be eye-catching to attract sales. Come on, Tesco! Stop unnecessary wrapping and help the planet!

[Barny Rumblefield]

I agree that the supermarkets should do more to reduce packaging and use biodegradable or materials that are easy to recycle.
But, although charging you for the amount of rubbish you use may seem unfair, it'll make you change your habits which in turn will make the supermarkets change theirs. If you're clever about it and recycle/re-use as much as you can you might actually be better off under such a scheme.
Where you have the choice, you should use local greegrocers etc. anyway, if just to support local businesses and slow the advance of the supermarkets. If you've got no choice, buy your meat from the meat counter inside the supermarket, it's the same prices (sometimes cheaper) and they use less packaging. Loose vegetables are usually cheaper than the prepackaged ones too.
As far as Tesco's goes, no one should ever shop there. Use Waitrose, M&S or Sainsburys; they are the most ethical and corporately responsible of the big chains.
I'm off to eat some lentils and look at my windmill.

[Simon]

Thanks for all your comments.
Barry, you're right we should try and support our local butchers and greengrocers but for many, as Brian said, it's not an option. I am lucky enough to have many small shops near me and use them when I can, but despite my best intentions Tesco and Sainsbury's get a lot of my cash.
You only need to look at Tesco's UK profits of £904m to see simply saying 'just use small shops' isn't going to work.
We are swamped by packaging we don't need or want and I challenge anyone to find a use for all those plastic trays. More recycling is vital and people should be encouraged, but I doubt anyone's council tax will go down - there will just be extra charged for rubbish on top. Force people to recycle, but make it easier and start targeting supermarkets and other big retailers too - they're the ones profiting from not bothering to reduce rubbish.
Any spare lentils going in that windmill Barney?

Simon

[Jen Parker]

Simon, really... I know you're trying to stir up some pro/anti supermarket/waste/recycle discussions here, but surely you could have come up with something a little more original. Everybody knows about packaging in big stores and how they should be shopping in their local market. The issues you really should be concentrating on, instead of the much talked about big profits & bad environmental consequences, are the ways people can limit their impact. I totally agree with Rita, don't step a foot inside Tesco, take a stance and happily spend a few pence extra on fairtrade in Waitrose, but it all boils down to the small things that count. That includes bothering to wash out and recycle every little piece of packaging you can.
And Simon, a man of your stature (with your own pic on Your Money!?) should be aware that it's hardly an Orwellian move for chips to be introduced to bins in the UK. How else can we stress the fact that our landfill sites are full? It's the fault of the majority of the general public, because they can't find the time to wash out their takeaway trays.

And why are people removing these chips from their wheelie bins ~ when they're not even in actual use yet? These are the people who object to the identity card, because they feel that they will be monitored every move (watched walking to the bookies, watched walking to sign on and watched walking to the pub). And it's these people that contribute the most to our unnecessary wastage problem; ready meals, crisps, pre-packaged items.
Everybody has a choice. Simon, you don't have to shop at Tesco's, no decent person does.....

[Gillian]

I'm currently living in France where they recently brought in a ban on handing out plastic bags at supermarkets. Brilliant. I take in my sturdy 'bag-for-life' bags and on the occasions that I forget to bring it along I either purchase another or use one of the cardboard (previously delivery) boxes that they have stacked in the corner.

Life carries on: everyone's happy.

I also spent some time in Canada; where they seem to have some faultless recycling system on the go. I'd stack-up my recycling on a weekly basis, then head down to the local recycling depot where I'd sort all my cartons, bottles and plastic containers into the appropriate tubs.

Some nice man would then come along, count them up and buy the waste back off me! Yes, they were more than happy to give me money for my recycling!

Of course this meant that any products that could be recycled, but had been chucked in the normal rubbish bins by someone who couldn't be bothered with the effort, would later be sifted out by someone searching for a quick buck. Genius. Needless to say, there were a fair few industrious homeless people in the town.

Now my only concern is whether my incessant recycling in anyway counteracts those trans-atlantic flights that I made whilst living on the other side of the World. Probably doesn't even scratch the surface.

[Ronnie]

Tesco and the other stores don't do nearly enough. If I buy a bottle of wine or beer at these stores surely I should be able to return the empty bottle to them so they can reuse it? Instead they have a bottle bank miles from the store entrance where they allow you to throw your bottle in a bottle bank where it is then collected and then dutifully crushed. There the crush glass is taken to landfill if its green glass and reused to make fresh bottles if its clear. Why cant we use the same bottles again? If a truck brought the full ones to the store why cant the empty truck take the empties back?

[Richard Dyson]

Hi to those above who commented so interestingly - I'm looking to write a piece in coming weeks on the financial aspects of garbage: tax, fines, recycling, investment opportunities, the lot - and I need to talk to people with strong feelings on the subject. If you want to help, please email me at richard.dyson@mailonsunday.co.uk - or you can reach me at my desk on 0207 9387242.
Thanks, Richard Dyson, Financial Mail on Sunday.

[john garland]

Hi Simon, You should do what my wife does. She unpacks all the useless packaging at the till. And if anyone complains she says its their fault for adding it in the first place and that the Customer is king!

[Stephen Burt]

What are you all on about; stop thinking about self, self, and self. We all have different needs whether a family with many children, a single person or an OAP, the simple fact is OUR society has given up its right to any local shops, farms, produce, etc, because we are ALL guilty of being lazy.

However, it is also a “catch 22” scenario, and until our Government(s) & Local Council puts a stop to ill conceived business parks, then it will be difficult in turning the clock back. Simply put, WE have to petition our Government into putting private businesses (SME’s) back into local villages & towns, the way it used to be. Then WE could ALL walk to work and support our local shops at the same time – hey, no cars, now there’s a revelation? Maybe we could even get back to walking our kids to school instead of having to drive them ten miles away because the local school closed down!

Business Parks are a complete waste of time in that no one in the business park will very rarely (if at all) trade with the other business on the same estate – they still work in isolation, so what was the point? All it does is force everyone to drive to common destination, therefore causing congestion as if it were a large conglomerate.

And there are never any local facilities anyway so again, what is the point? In every town & village there was once a small business somewhere doing trade with another small business down the road. So tell me this, if WE are ALL so concerned about pollution and the environment, congestion charges and so one, then WHY has no one bothered to even look into this or take it seriously? Do you really have to eat strawberries in January?

[Ray]

I live in the centre of Norwich. Although I have a car and a motorbike I hardly ever use them as I love shopping at my local Tesco Metro. It's lovely short walk there from my home and I always have to pass the local recycling bay at one of the many city centre car parks where I drop off all my bottles, cans, paper, cardboard and other bits and pieces. Maybe that is one of the reasons the local labour Norwich city council hasn't given me nor my neighbours wheelie bins because we don't have enough rubbish to fill them.

I have noticed however, that Tesco is cheaper than Asda, Sainsbury's, Morrisons, M and S, Somerfield, Waitrose and the Co-op even with their 3% dividend. All these stores have all stopped me from using my car and motorbike to visit their out of city stores which must be a good thing as I have reduced my petrol consumption and my carbon emissions.

Tesco staff are friendly, helpful, polite and courteous and always replace/refund spoiled or damaged items without a fuss or delay, not something I have enjoyed at my local surly, grumpy and overpriced butcher/grocer/greencrocers/off licence stores.

Not only have I reduced considerably my motor vehicle journeys, I get Clubcard Points whenever I reuse my old Tesco shopping bags, but I have to be quick because within a year they seem to completely rot and disintegrate as I found out one day when searching for one inside a drawer to use as a pedal bin liner!!!!!

I have also noticed that the quanity of packaging used at Tesco is no less and no more than Sainsbury's, Asda, M and S, Morrisons, Somerfield, the Co-op and Waitrose but most of the others seem to use yucky garish colours which I don't like to see.

I need my packaging because it tells me everything I need to know about the product, ie its price, weight, sell by date, consume by date, retailer and manufacturer details, composition, dietary information, cooking instructions, that important special recipe and not forgetting the bar code.

[Katy]

Seems Marks and Spencer has more non-recyclable packaging than Tescos! One in the eye for the "snobs" on here! We don't all have access to the upmarket Waitrose - and a lot of us couldn't afford to shop there anyway! Leave Tesco alone; they are no worse than a lot of the supermarkets, and, seemingly, a lot better than M and S!!

[Lyn Austin]

As a family we try to do our bit for the environment and composte/recycle as much we can. We use bags for life when we shop which are easier to pack anyway than carrier bags. When are the big stores going to produce only recyclable carrier bags? Some local shops are producing bags made of cornstarch. The customer is charged 5p if they really need a carrier but at least it decomposes. I agree with leaving the packaging at the counter. If more people did this perhaps the stores would think again about all the unnecessary packaging which we are paying very highly for. Why should we pay for extra rubbish to be collected by the council for packaging we didn't want in the first place? I would like a return to paper bags rather than plastic if a bag is necessary. Paper can be made from renewable sources. Why do stores not let us return THEIR empty bottles and jars to be recycled? I remember as a child returning empties and getting a 1d back which was an encouragement. I rather like the Canadian idea mentioned of being paid for the sorted recycle goods. If we all stick together hopefully the stores will have a rethink.

[Gary Levett]

Look what has happened in Ireland with fortnightly colections and a new bin tax. Mass refusal to pay (half of all households not given a waiver), streets full of rubbish and even blockading of rubbish depots. Their experience shows that after introduction, the new charges go through the roof. This is nothing to do with the environment, just another EU stealth tax.

[Anne]

I have just been reading about The Pru. and I am very upset. I have a with profits policy that will mature 1st of March which means after all the years I have put my money into the Pru I am going to lose out on any possible windfall.