Non-recycleable plastic

[Mick F]

I hear that toothpaste tubes are a big problem.

What about Baby Bells?
Why do they wrap them in plastic film and have them in a plastic net?

What else might there be?

[661-Pete]

Never heard of "baby bells" but do you perhaps mean "Babybel" cheese?

Certainly seems over-packaged to me and [foodie-snob hat on] I have to say, we're a bit more discerning in our choice of cheeses: Roquefort, Wensleydale, Stilton, Gouda, Gruyere, Chèvre, are amongst my faves along with a good decent Cheddar....[/foodie-snob hat off]

Back on topic. So many foods are over-packaged, so much of it non-recycleable: sweets and biscuits especially - you just can't get away from it.

So my question is this. We do make sure that all our plastic waste - all that's non-recycleable and all that we think is non-recycleable that is - goes in the landfill bin and hopefully does indeed end up in landfill. So - how secure are landfill waste sites? How much plastic and other undesirables does actually leach out of them and get into the watercourses - and ultimately the oceans? Which is where the main disaster is happening....

I'd like to believe, we're merely returning product made from petrochemicals extracted from the Earth's crust, back into the Earth's crust. Or is that too naive a line of reasoning?

[Cyril Haearn]

I put all my stuff to be recycled but who knows what becomes of it? Generally the quality deteriorates, paper for example can be recycled a few times but not indefinitely

[Mick F]

Never heard of "baby bells" but do you perhaps mean "Babybel" cheese?

Sorry, but that's the way it's said, so that's the way I rote it.
Loads of cheeses in the house, but Baby Bells are nice and simple and one quick mouthful, but a pity about the plastic film. At least the wax on the cheese is burnable on the fire.

[661-Pete]

I just wield the knife..... feeling peckish at 11pm...go to kitchen, get knife, go to fridge, cut slice off the Gouda (or whatever's in there), bit of bread or ryvita to go with.....

[kwackers]

I just wield the knife..... feeling peckish at 11pm...go to kitchen, get knife, go to fridge, cut slice off the Gouda (or whatever's in there), bit of bread or ryvita to go with.....

But if you fancy the taste of a baby bell, why put up with Gouda?

I'm also a big fan of squirty cheese, no messing with knives (which are dangerous btw), just open ones trap and squirt it in.
For pudding I pop a strawberry in my gob then fill it up with squirty cream - yum!

[Cyril Haearn]

Baby bell = American phone company

Can glass be recycled indefinitely? Uses a lot of energy I think

[Cyril Haearn]

A lot of stuff goes to landfill or is exported to poor countries
Could be material for a horror movie, it takes hundreds of years to break down

[Mick F]

We need to put it all in a rocket and dump it all on the Moon or send it off into deepest space, or dig a big deep hole and chuck it in.

When we first moved round here, people threw rubbish and scrap down the open mineshafts.
I remember taking the dogs for a walk near Drakewalls Mine and seeing the wide open shaft with old cookers and fridges down there, plus numerous black bin bags and general household rubbish.
Neighbours told us that everyone does it and we should do too.

Just slap bang here, but it's capped and grassed over nowadays. I'm in no doubt that the rubbish is still down there.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Gun ... -4.2135524

[Cyril Haearn]

Plastic has only been ubiquitous for a few decades, how was stuff packed before? Some of us should be able to remember

[kwackers]

Plastic has only been ubiquitous for a few decades, how was stuff packed before? Some of us should be able to remember

Paper bags.
Most stuff was sold either loose, bottled or in tins, if loose it was usually measured out into a paper bag (or grease proof paper for the likes of butter and cheese).

Back in the days when sweet shop simply had jars and jars of the stuff and it turned out a 'quarter' of whatever you fancy didn't make that much impression in the little paper bags they gave it to you in.

Cellophane was much more common too - and was made from wood pulp, so similar to plastic wrap but much easier to dispose of.

[Cyril Haearn]

Steptoe and Son came by and collected used bottles, cans, rags, sold the stuff on, I bet the recycling % was quite good

[fausto copy]

Apparently our local Morrisons is now stocking paper bags to put loose items of fruit and veg in.

I asked Mrs. C if the checkout operator had to look inside each bag to see what was in it.

She replied that there's a small window in the bag to enable identification of the contents.

I only hope the window isn't made of plastic.

[Mick F]

Just chatting about the old days with Mrs Mick F and reminiscing about the mine shafts.
Also, toothpaste.
It used to come in metal tubes that you rolled up as you used it. These days, you can't get all the toothpaste out, and as they can't be recycled they are landfill and will remain in there for eons. At least in the old days, the tubes would rust away in landfill within a few years.

[ferrit worrier]

Plastic has only been ubiquitous for a few decades, how was stuff packed before? Some of us should be able to remember

When I were a lad I deliverd groceries on a bike wiv a baskit on't front . That were 50 year ago I remember humping sides of bacon into the shop from the fridge and the boss Mr Eaton de boning the meat and cutting it up for the bacon slicer to do its job. Two cuts I can remember "flitch and best back" sliced up and wrapped up in grease proof paper. Butter was the same sold loose weighed and wrapped in grease proof , same as cheese, I think they also had ham and I think pork . The blade on the slicer was always cleaned after use to prevent raw food coming into contact with cooked ..
Aye and biscuits were sold loose too.
That was a blst from the past
the thing with plastic is how do we know what is recyclable and what isnt?