It doesn't sound like they are going back acording tothis article.
137 Million sold last year! Yowzer.
Costco changing nationally to bag vs clamshell
137 Million sold last year! Yowzer.
Costco changing nationally to bag vs clamshell
Looks like they are both polyethylene at heart. Rigid stuff is called High Density.
Black plastic is not however considered suitable for recycling. Contaminates the other stuff. Portsmouth UK doesn't want this stuff at all even if clear.
Portsmouth UK also finds plastic bags, even polyethylene, a waste of their efforts and don't want them in Green Bins.
But polyethylene is excellent for the incinerator/power plant, where most rubbish goes:
Burn it all. The appliance of Science wins again. Matter closed? 🙂
Black plastic is not however considered suitable for recycling. Contaminates the other stuff. Portsmouth UK doesn't want this stuff at all even if clear.
Portsmouth UK also finds plastic bags, even polyethylene, a waste of their efforts and don't want them in Green Bins.
But polyethylene is excellent for the incinerator/power plant, where most rubbish goes:
Burn it all. The appliance of Science wins again. Matter closed? 🙂
Morrisons in the UK sell fresh milk in cartons, up to 2 ltrs, but not at all stores apparently. No-one else does that I'm aware of. Not sure why.
Waitrose and Sainsburys tried selling bagged milk and gave up because of low sales and having to clean up the shelves and floor because of leaks and dropped bags...
Waitrose and Sainsburys tried selling bagged milk and gave up because of low sales and having to clean up the shelves and floor because of leaks and dropped bags...
No, because 'everyone knows' that incinerators are evil sources of dioxins. Or something like that. I once went to a meeting held to discuss the construction of an incinerator a couple of miles from where I lived. The people presenting the case for the incinerator were shouted down from the start by people who were not there to listen, let alone change their minds. After the shouting session I managed to talk to a couple of the 'incinerator people' and they were really helpful and happy to talk about flue temperatures, ash waste management, inspections, dust precipitation in flues. IIRC they were even going to get deliveries via a rail spur, so not even an increase in lorry traffic...
Morrison's Milk in plasticised cardboard with polyethylene top? It's old news actually. Designed to make you feel all GREEN and TREE-HUGGY!
But not recyclable in Portsmouth UK! We will burn it. These people are idiots! 🤣
But not recyclable in Portsmouth UK! We will burn it. These people are idiots! 🤣
It took a while, but eventually I found an article (24/02/22) that actually did more than rebroadcast Morrisons 'propaganda' on their packaging. Long story short, Morrisons figures were based on an assumption of a large proportion of cartons being submitted for recycling. It appears from the article that in reality, the expectation is that many won't make it to be recycled because there's only one company that can handle the recycling and you can't just bung them in the recycling bin. So landfill or incineration.
I should also add that there are fully recyclable HDPE milk containers already available in the UK and being used by some supermarkets with multiple recycling sites taking them.
Disappointing really. But, OTOH it does illustrate the complexity of the problem that people are trying to solve. Plastic is just so good at the jobs we use it for...
Recyclable in theory.
That is the catch, there are a lot of articles out there on how most of it doesn't actually get recycled.
Just because it is marked and we sort it into the recycle bin doesn't mean it is going to be recycled.
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Don't you just either grab it with really good tongs or skewer it with a really large fork and lift it out of the bag and set it on a cutting board? Then just use the same utensil to put the entire thing in a large enough storage container and pop it in the fridge.
Sure, it isn't quite as easy as the old container but it doesn't seem like a situation where I'd be wiping off the walls and ceiling after fixing a snack.
Sure, it isn't quite as easy as the old container but it doesn't seem like a situation where I'd be wiping off the walls and ceiling after fixing a snack.
For my wife, who does the work, the extra effort and particularly the mess is just not worth it. Maybe it's easy for you, but not for her. She won't be buying the chickens from Costco anymore.
Hopefully, they have gotten message by reduced sales and will bring back the boxes.
This whole recycling thing is a huge boondoggle where there isn't any consistency from one place to another or even complete agreement on what's good and what's not.
Hopefully, they have gotten message by reduced sales and will bring back the boxes.
This whole recycling thing is a huge boondoggle where there isn't any consistency from one place to another or even complete agreement on what's good and what's not.
@classicalfan, if you are hungry enough you will tear the packaging off with your bare teeth and eat the chicken! 😆
To complete the humiliation of Morrisons "Green" supermarket, I have checked out some familiar cartons and bottles:
On the left is a Type 2 HDPE (High Density Polyethylene) milk carton. Though you need a magnifying glass to decipher the little triangle.
Wholly recyclable (clear lid too) and melted down to pellets to make new items a very limited number of times. Presumably the dyed plastic label is removed, but I really don't know.
In the middle is a Type 1 PET (Polyethylene Teraphthalate) rigid type. This is the most recycled plastic in the US, but in fact plastic bottles account for only a few percent of plastic production.
On the right is the familiar Morrisons et al plasticised cardboard type. The charlatans say it is recyclable, "But check with your local collector". It is actually a stinker to recycle, like soft plastic bags. It also consumes trees.
Happily they are all a very clean burn, which makes more economic sense to me, probably on a close par with natural gas in a proper incinerator.
When my mum were a lass, she'd take a jug to the village Dairy shop for yummy Guernsey cow milk. Honestly, milk tasted better then.
We would also eagerly volunteer for this task too, because she would let us get ice-cream cones with clotted Devon cream and raspberry sauce on top!
No packaging at all. 😎
To complete the humiliation of Morrisons "Green" supermarket, I have checked out some familiar cartons and bottles:
On the left is a Type 2 HDPE (High Density Polyethylene) milk carton. Though you need a magnifying glass to decipher the little triangle.
Wholly recyclable (clear lid too) and melted down to pellets to make new items a very limited number of times. Presumably the dyed plastic label is removed, but I really don't know.
In the middle is a Type 1 PET (Polyethylene Teraphthalate) rigid type. This is the most recycled plastic in the US, but in fact plastic bottles account for only a few percent of plastic production.
On the right is the familiar Morrisons et al plasticised cardboard type. The charlatans say it is recyclable, "But check with your local collector". It is actually a stinker to recycle, like soft plastic bags. It also consumes trees.
Happily they are all a very clean burn, which makes more economic sense to me, probably on a close par with natural gas in a proper incinerator.
When my mum were a lass, she'd take a jug to the village Dairy shop for yummy Guernsey cow milk. Honestly, milk tasted better then.
We would also eagerly volunteer for this task too, because she would let us get ice-cream cones with clotted Devon cream and raspberry sauce on top!
No packaging at all. 😎
Not that hungry. Particularly since this change was totally unnecessary from my point of view.
It's not going to make a bit of difference to landfills or anywhere else. It's a tiny drop in the bucket, but probably makes some people at Costco feel good about themselves.
We'll see how their business goes, and if the reports about reversal at some stores are true.
It's not going to make a bit of difference to landfills or anywhere else. It's a tiny drop in the bucket, but probably makes some people at Costco feel good about themselves.
We'll see how their business goes, and if the reports about reversal at some stores are true.
Part of the recycling problem is that it's made up of tiny drops. But as @system7 has shown, even solving those problem drops is difficult.
There's something to be said for incineration, particularly if it can be combined with CCS...
I've only ever seen the roast chooks here in the Salmonella Sweat Bags. 🤢
The hard plastic container sounds much better.
The hard plastic container sounds much better.
I do try to understand a problem before attempting to solve it. This is an issue of consumer convenience in cheap hot roast supermarket chickens AFAIK, versus Costco's commendable initiative to "Save The Planet".
Let's see what we have here, courtesy of @1883:
Any eco-warrior can see that the ones in black plastic trays are economically unrecyclable. The bags are a waste of time too whatever they are made of.
They could be polystyrene, Type 6, but I really don't know. But the black plastic is hopeless anyway.
Plastic types should be marked in order of ease of recycling:
Now most people wouldn't know any of that.
I have a running battle with someone who thinks greasy fish and chips cardboard containers (the blueish thing complete with wooden spoon and greasy paper) are OK. They are NOT, along with cardboard but greasy Pizza boxes.
Here's an example of unsuitable things I have pulled from the recycling bin recently, and our bin men are fanatical about rejecting a green bin just for one wrong item.
Medical waste including full Nasal Spray and Scalp Conditioning medicine. IDK what the white plastic tube is for, but it is some sort of medical felt tip pen.
Polysyrene YAKULT yoghurt pot. Usual food containers. And PRINGLES.
Despite some recent announcement from Pringles Chips about improved recyclable containers being trialled in Tesco stores, they look the same old mixture of tin bottoms, plasticised card and polythene top and aluminium seal to me.
I really don't know why they don't pack their chips in unrecyclable bags like everyone else. Or make them flat and pack them like biscuits.
Yakult continue to claim their rigid poystyrene pots are recyclable, but the only good thing to say for them is they are a clean burn. Portsmouth doesn't want them in green bins. In both cases the metal seal was discarded along with the container, which even Pringles advise is wrong.
The clear plastic food containers seem to be HDPE Type 2, but Portsmouth have clearly decided they are likely to be contaminated with food waste and maybe mixed with nastier plastic food trays like polystyrene.
It really is a hopeless situation. Everybody knows. 🙁
Let's see what we have here, courtesy of @1883:
Any eco-warrior can see that the ones in black plastic trays are economically unrecyclable. The bags are a waste of time too whatever they are made of.
They could be polystyrene, Type 6, but I really don't know. But the black plastic is hopeless anyway.
Plastic types should be marked in order of ease of recycling:
Now most people wouldn't know any of that.
I have a running battle with someone who thinks greasy fish and chips cardboard containers (the blueish thing complete with wooden spoon and greasy paper) are OK. They are NOT, along with cardboard but greasy Pizza boxes.
Here's an example of unsuitable things I have pulled from the recycling bin recently, and our bin men are fanatical about rejecting a green bin just for one wrong item.
Medical waste including full Nasal Spray and Scalp Conditioning medicine. IDK what the white plastic tube is for, but it is some sort of medical felt tip pen.
Polysyrene YAKULT yoghurt pot. Usual food containers. And PRINGLES.
Despite some recent announcement from Pringles Chips about improved recyclable containers being trialled in Tesco stores, they look the same old mixture of tin bottoms, plasticised card and polythene top and aluminium seal to me.
I really don't know why they don't pack their chips in unrecyclable bags like everyone else. Or make them flat and pack them like biscuits.
Yakult continue to claim their rigid poystyrene pots are recyclable, but the only good thing to say for them is they are a clean burn. Portsmouth doesn't want them in green bins. In both cases the metal seal was discarded along with the container, which even Pringles advise is wrong.
The clear plastic food containers seem to be HDPE Type 2, but Portsmouth have clearly decided they are likely to be contaminated with food waste and maybe mixed with nastier plastic food trays like polystyrene.
It really is a hopeless situation. Everybody knows. 🙁
+1 on the greasy cardboard assessment. It will break the paper recycling process. Our city composts so pizza boxes and the like wind up there.
I don't buy rotisserie chicken very often preferring to BBQ/roast them myself but when I have, I have found that our local Farm Boy store has them in a paper bag with a cellulose window. I lift the chicken out onto a plate (to drain) and then onto cutting board and slice it there. The drippings are down the drain and the bag is composted. The bag has some additional paper/crepe in the bottom to keep it from leaking. The mess is inconsequential compared to actually seasoning and cooking a raw bird.
I try very hard to avoid that plastic stuff. I don't believe that it gets recycled as much as some people think. For that to be true it, it would have to be sorted and that isn't happening.
It is the consumer's responsibility to make good choices (or what are perceived as good based on current information). If a company discovers that consumers don't want plastic, they will change what they use.
Convenience is a harsh mistress however.
I don't buy rotisserie chicken very often preferring to BBQ/roast them myself but when I have, I have found that our local Farm Boy store has them in a paper bag with a cellulose window. I lift the chicken out onto a plate (to drain) and then onto cutting board and slice it there. The drippings are down the drain and the bag is composted. The bag has some additional paper/crepe in the bottom to keep it from leaking. The mess is inconsequential compared to actually seasoning and cooking a raw bird.
I try very hard to avoid that plastic stuff. I don't believe that it gets recycled as much as some people think. For that to be true it, it would have to be sorted and that isn't happening.
It is the consumer's responsibility to make good choices (or what are perceived as good based on current information). If a company discovers that consumers don't want plastic, they will change what they use.
Convenience is a harsh mistress however.
From recent reports is appears that the new Costco chicken bags ARE NOT RECYCLABLE at all. So, what they have done is gone from a recyclable packaging to a someone lesser one that is not recyclable. That doesn't make any sense.
But it might actually be costing them more, because now it takes to two people to get the chicken into the bag - one to hold it open and the other to put in the chicken.
Sure it does...
If <X% of the previous material was ACTUALLY being recycled vs. it being "recyclable", and far less raw material is used in the new configuration, then it makes perfect sense. The reasoning was explained. Save material, freight etc. which net-net may have less environmental impact.
You may not agree with the reasoning and/or your personal tradeoffs don't align with the decision due to performance, but to say it doesn't make sense... well... that doesn't make sense.
🙂