Recycling for rewards with Reciclos, what is all that about then?

There is a recent initiative here in Menorca (maybe elsewhere I´m not sure) which rewards you for recycling plastic.  I did try and register some months ago without any luck.Yesterday I was successful and have started to scan and recycle.  At this moment I have only had success scanning tins of coca cola, bottles of  fruit juice and 1.5ltr bottles of water.  

After creating my account, I opened the app, used the scanning facility to pass my phone camera over the bar code of the item to be recycled.  If it is accepted a number will appear next to the bottle/can icon on the right hand side of the screen.  When you have ten (or more maybe) of these you can put them in the recycling bin.

I went to the bin, followed the instructions on the app, gave permission once to access my location, then scanned the code on the outside of the bin, and put the items in the bin! 

It all seems like it is designed to make the consumer buy more plastic!

 I feel an investigation about to take place!

Watch this space!

 Blog song of the day "Spanish Caravan" by The Doors

 

TTFN

 

 

Looking for ways to shop without buying more plastic! First attempt!

 So far I have found three shops in Ciutadella which offer a variety of products that you can buy loose.  All I had to do was take some of my own containers ( I used old chinese takeaway tubs) to put the stuff .in.  The first place I went to was in a row of shops in the arches near the Cathedral (Ses Voltes)

What a selection of stuff they have!  There are many things typical of Menorca and made in Menorca too, as you enter on the left side is a complete wall of dispensers, filled with many things from breakfast cereals to lentils, pastas and rices to name but a few.  On the right hand side is a tea section, then a spice section with a table in the middle filled with compartments of nuts!  

Over the back are the spices.

The process is quite simple, first the nice lady weighs your container, then you put however much you want in, it gets weighed then, done!  And when you have finished you leave with some nice things and also feeling good with yourself for not buying any new plastic!!

 

 

My next stop was a local store which sells frozen produce by weight, so it is the same set up there, it also sells a lot of fruit and veg from Menorca.  It is situated near the Plaza Menorca on the corner.

I take my own mesh bag (thank you Lidl) and put my fruit and veg in it, the lady only has seasonal fruit in there(at the moment it´s apples) but boy is it worth waiting for!

Products from Menorca

Products from Menorca and elsewhere, everything is clearly labelled as to its origin.

My last port of call was also near the Plaza Menorca, up near the church it´s called Camamilla, it´s great, they have a great range of products in there, 

Take your own container and they will fill it for you, great value too, all eco products!

Their range of infusions is enormous and they have a great selection of environmental beauty products too.

Today I only needed some bubble bath;

It smells lovely and for a mere 1,35 for 500ml good value.

So I can say that todays first adventure was a success!  

My blog song for today is: "Disco 2000" by Pulp  your house was very small with woodchip on the wall, classic!

TTFN

At last some clarity of those awful hard to read triangles with teeny tiny numbers inside

 

 PLASTICS 

I have come across this information and it is very interesting.

The aim of this symbol is to tell you what kind of plastic the product is made from, with seven different numbers and letters to help you figure out

1. PET – short for Polyethylene Terephthalate which is widely recycled

2. HDPE – short for High-Density Polyethylene and is also widely recycled

3. PVC – short for Polyvinyl Chloride - capable of being recycled but is harder to do so. Before placing in your recycling bin, check with your local authority whether it is a material they can recycle.

4. LDPE – short for Low-Density Polyethylene - capable of being recycled, but it’s a good idea to check with your local authority to check it can be recycled.

 5. PP – short for Polypropylene -material is very hard or not possible to recycle. Can be found in tupperware, disposable cups, and some food containers.

6. PS – short for Polystyrene or Styrofoam - material also hard or not possible to recycle. Used in disposable coffee cups, plastic cutlery and packing foam.

7. Other – this is usually a mish mash of lots of different plastics, which means it is difficult to recycle.

So here in Menorca listed on the leaflet I downloaded from the official recycling plant website it says we can recycle polystyrene but according to the list above it is very difficult or not possible to.  A little confusing.  I think I will send an email and see what they say! So it looks like 1 and 2 are the clear winners! (forgive the pun).

The song for the blog today is:  Pink Floyd - "Set the controls for the heart of the sun" Break out the wrangler flares and flowery shirts!

 

TTFN

 

How did we end up with so much plastic packaging? what can we do about it?

 I have found some more information online from the Greenpeace UK website:

I have copied and pasted it below;

"There are all sorts of claims that justify why plastic is used in such enormous quantities. But look closer and it turns out these claims aren’t as sound as they might seem.

1. Can we use “bioplastics?”

The term “bioplastics” can mean two things:

• Plastics that biodegrade or break down into tiny pieces (creating smaller bits of plastic that are still, well, plastic.)
• Plastics made of renewable, organic biomass sources, like vegetable fats and oils, and corn starch.

So-called bioplastics might seem like a great idea, but they can actually be just as bad as normal plastic. If bioplastics end up in the ocean they can entangle and endanger sea life, just like regular plastic. And making them also uses up valuable land and resources, and can require chemical-intensive industrial agriculture.

2. Can recycling fix the plastic problem?

Recycling is absolutely vital for dealing with waste, and we definitely shouldn’t start chucking everything in the bin for landfill. But unfortunately our recycling systems just can’t cope with the amount of plastic we currently produce – especially as plastic production is on the increase.

As a material, plastic can only be recycled a certain number of times, so we can’t keep recycling the same thing forever. Making new recycled goods out of the plastic we recycle also uses up a lot of energy and resources.

3. Doesn’t plastic packaging prevent food waste?

This might seem like a question with a simple answer, but the links between food waste and plastic packaging are complex. Sometimes, plastic can increase shelf life, but it also increases food waste in other ways.

When foods are packaged together, they have to be a regular shape and size so they can fit into their plastic container. Food that doesn’t conform to these standards doesn’t make it, which means that some food is rejected before it even reaches the shelves.  

Packaging can also make people buy more than they need. For example if you only need 10 tomatoes for your signature homemade salsa but you buy a pack of 16, those last six can end up mouldy and forgotten on the bottom shelf of your fridge. Eventually, they might get thrown away.

So after all this doom and gloom, what is the answer?

Ultimately supermarkets need to reduce the amount of plastic packaging they use in the first place. Sometimes packaging is necessary. Pre-chopped fruit and veg are vital for people who have accessibility issues that make chopping and peeling difficult or impossible. But the vast majority of plastic isn’t necessary.

Stopping excess plastic at the source will mean that there’s less of it in circulation, and ultimately less plastic in our oceans."

 If you go to the website;

https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/news/whats-answer-plastic-problem/

at the bottom is a link to sign a petition to urge supermarkets to reduce plastic.

Here is a challenge, for one visit to the supermarket, try to find alternatives to plastic!  It is more difficult than you think!

We can as consumers make a change, we all managed to change from plastic bags to reusable ones, lets try and make a difference in the amount of plastic is produced, by reducing the amount that we buy and steering away from the companies that over package, for example; those little fairy cakes individually packed in twos in little plastic bags, inside a large plastic bag, a bit over the top(very common here in Spain) Once you start looking you will be very surprised about how many you will come across!

 That is it for me today, time to start making dinner!  I will leave you with the "blast from the past" blog song for today, it is Led Zep - Kashmir!

TTFN