Crisp maker’s recycling concession to campaigners is like a red rag to a bull
Walkers crisp company is to be commended for launching a scheme to recycle its plastic packets – if not for the way it came about.
The firm only gave in to pressure from campaigners after Royal Mail stepped in, sick of people posting empty crisp packets back to the Leicester factory without envelopes.
Walkers reckons it had been in negotiations with recycling firm TerraCycle since the start of the year, after 38 Degrees raised a 330,000-signature petition.
But campaigners say the manufacturer still has a long way to go before it reaches its target of making all packaging fully recyclable, compostable or biodegradable by 2025.
For anti-plastic, pro-recycling campaigners, the message is clear – petition firms, by all means…
But couple this with methods that make the same firms a burden on others – like the Royal Mail – and you’ll get results.
It doesn’t strike me as the most honourable way of behaving – but we’ve seen that there is no honour in the way plastic is poisoning the planet.
Campaigners can only conclude that the rule must be: Do what works.
Snack firm Walkers has announced a recycling scheme – after Royal Mail begged campaigners not to post empty crisp packets without envelopes.
From December, snack fans will be able to post used bags – in envelopes, for free – directly to a recycling company.
The company said it had been in talks about the scheme since the beginning of the year.
It will involve packets being turned into plastic items such as benches, watering cans and plant pots by recycling firm TerraCycle.
Source: Walkers crisp packets recycling scheme announced – BBC News
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Congratulations to 38 degrees but I suspect that Walkers having to cover the cost of both the free post and the disposal of the bags themselves may have added weight to their reconsideration.
Back in my day (1950s) the original Smiths Crisps came in greaseproof paper bags complete with the little twist of salt – also greaseproof. Greaseproof paper is readily composted and can be even burned in an open fire. Smiths Crisps have been taken over by Walkers and now come in those awful plastic bags while the salt comes in a plastic sachet.