Thursday 12 November 2009

No more plastic post - continued...

I got a reply from one of my emails to companies about the plastic 'envelopes' they send their mail out in...I was quite pleased to get a reply and to know that they are aware of the issue, but I think I will email them back and ask about maybe doing an online version of the magazine, which would cut out both the plastic 'envelope' waste (which even if it was biodegradable wouldn't be great because it doesn't biodegrade properly!) and the paper, magazine waste!

'Dear Susie,
Thank you for your e-mail. I am sorry for the delayed reply.

This is an ongoing problem we are trying to resolve. It seems that most makes of polywrap can only be recycled by specialist centres. The alternative is biodegradable, but it seems that is problematic, as if a bit of biodegradable plastic gets into normal plastic recycling, it contaminates the whole batch. The cost of paper or card alternatives is also quite high. However, we are taking this seriously and costing out the options and hope we can come up with a solution soon, as it has long been a concern of our.

Our policy is to be environmentally friendly and within our office we use 100% recycled paper as well having numerous recycling facilities on site. I hope that answers your queries. '

I also managed to find an opt-out button on the website for one of the catalogues I get sent and I'm keeping check on what pops through the post box every day so I can identify more targets to eliminate!

5 comments:

  1. well done for writing to the manufacturer. It looks like this is something that concerns them too, so that's heartening. It's really important we have our voice heard. I should do much more :(

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  2. Great!!! It's a good news that you're writing to the manufacturers too! I did it many times but I received replies only from a 30% of them.
    In your case they seemed worried about the problem, in mine, they words were a bit annoyed, but they answered to my question the same. In one case I wrote them a second email to ask more infos, but then I hadn't reply anymore! :(
    But I go on to believe that it's very important to try at least to find a dialogue with manufacturers! So, go on this way, Sooz!

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  3. Mrs Green, you do looooads! You have a lovely family and a new blog post every day! Now thats impressive! All we can do is as much as we can. Theres a lot of stuff I'm itching to do and can't do at the moment becuase I'm living with my mum (and she won't let me lol), but I have lots of free time at the moment so I try to fill it with something useful, thats all. But I was glad that the company realised their plastic envelopes were naughty and were looking for alternatives - thats really good! :)

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  4. Hi Danda,
    I haven't recived replies from some of the other companies I wrote to (yet!), but I agree with you that it is important to try to communicate with manufacturers so they know what their consumers want (at least capitalism gives customers that power!) and if enough people ask for the same thing then maybe something will get done! (so go you too for also writing to the manufacturers! :)

    I think the positive tone of this letter is because of the company it was to - Amnesty International - who are nice people and therefore less likely to be annoyed!

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  5. WOW Sooz!! Go you indeed!! (And Danda, for writing to manufacturers!!)
    I'm still a bit afraid to, not sure why! :)
    Only contacted one or two..

    At least I talked to my aunt who is sort of a merchant/manufacturer - she did not know plastic bottles can get recycled - or wasn't sure if they really are recycled, which is a big question here anyway! /sigh/

    In Slovenia, no one really works with manufacturers or businesses to help them minimize waste - hmm, maybe I can do a blog post about this?

    Glad to hear they are concerned and looking into options.. If they are still uncertain, maybe indeed you can look into and ask about the online version?

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