Is it all a load of rubbish?

I've been reading Kevin Harris's blog Neighbourhoods and thinking about rubbish.  He is complaining that this whole recycling thing gets so complex and that he now has four bins.  I got to thinking that most of our rubbish comes from supermarket packaging so I decided to check out what M&S had said in their recent press release about going green This is what they say:
"Using packaging materials from sustainable or recycled sources, for example cardboard, metal, glass
and plastic.
Restricting the range of materials we use in packaging to ones which are easy to recycle or compost, so customers do not have to throw rubbish away. This will include focusing on using four types of plastic (corn starch derived plastic PLA, PP, PET and PE)
Printing simple symbols on all our packaging, to make it easy for customers to recycle or compost waste
Reducing our use of carrier bags by 33% and making all our plastic bags from recycled plastic."

But its the consumer not the shop that has to contend with all this waste.  So I have written them asking the following question?

"I was pleased to see that M&S are taking climate change seriously.  There has been a lot of discussion on the Internet recently about packaging.  I see that you still plan to use plastic packaging, and though I'm sure it might be recyclable in time - if I buy something in all that packaging then its still highly likely to just end up filling up a dustbin.  What about reducing packaging all together.  You could a)put fruit and veg in reusable boxes (as greengrocers have done for years) or b) use glass or ceramic recyclable pots for ready meals and offer a small inducement for returns."

We await an answer!

Comments

[Kevin Harris]

Wendy, thanks for the link. Just to clarify - I wasn't complaining about having four bins (quite the contrary, because it serves both to promote recycling and it seems to stimulate neighbourly interactions), but I do lament the fact that the design of the boxes gives rise to rubbish and litter around the street. In fact where I live, we could have communal bins and we'd all have to potter out there in our wellies or slippers whenever, and some of us might say hello more often than we do at the moment...
best
k