Year 3, Day 39: The Waste of Crazy Packaging-Amen

For the first time since I've been going to the gym, I missed two successive Sundays, and believe me it doesn't feel that good. I know it's OK and in the words of Jim Carey imitating Andy Kaufman, "I will surveev" but like most Americans hooked on some kind of exercise, you just feel so bad when you miss it.

Breakfast
Kashi Go Lean!
Heritage Flakes
Strawberries
Blueberries
Banana
Unsweetened Soy Milk
Coffee

Lunch
1 Joseph's Wrap, 2 Eggs, 2 oz 50% Jalapeno Cheddar, Salsa
Romaine, Red Cabbage Salad with Oil & Vinegar

Snack
2 Sticks Beef Jerky
50 Tamari Almonds
A few bags of Newman's Microwave Popcorn (more or less split with RUby)

Dinner
Turkey Crumble in Romaine Lettuce Leaves
Cauliflower

Revealed: the waste of crazy packaging
by HILARY FREEMAN - More by this author »Last updated at 08:04am on 26th April 2007
This article is best seen at its home

The Mail's campaign for weekly bin collections has highlighted the sheer amount of waste generated in modern Britain. One of the greatest contributors to this is the crazy amount of unnecessary packaging used by supermarkets and manufacturers. Here, we highlight ten of the worst offenders. And in the coming days we'll be urging readers to join the war on waste by revealing other examples of pointless packaging. HILARY FREEMAN reports.

SAINSBURY'S STRAWBERRIES, 400g
Cost: £1.99
Packaging offence: Just ten large Egyptian strawberries lie on a plastic tray, with a separate plastic lid. The strawberries sit on a bed of plastic bubble wrap.

Environmental impact: The bubble wrap cannot be recycled. Soft plastics, such as bubble wrap or clingfilm, are usually made from PVC, which is particularly damaging to the environment. Both during its production and use, dioxins - cancer-causing toxins - are released into the environment.

Other crimes: Egypt is more than 2,000 miles away, so flying the strawberries to Britain has used up fuel and polluted the environment. It's probably several weeks since they've been picked and refrigerated, so they're unlikely to taste of much or to have a great deal of nutritional content. It's better for the environment - not to mention your palate - to eat strawberries in season. We produce fantastic British strawberries in June. Eat local fruit, such as apples and pears, which are freshly picked.

FOUR-PACK OF SAINSBURY'S 'EAT AND KEEP' PEAR SELECTION
Cost: £1.89
Packaging offences: Each pear sits in its own compartment on a polystyrene tray, which is then covered by a moulded plastic lid. The whole ensemble is wrapped in clingfilm, with a label pasted over the top. In addition, two of the pears have metallic printed 'Ripen Me In The Fruit Bowl' stickers on them, just in case you aren't able to use your hands to tell which ones are ripe.

Environmental impact: According to environmental expert Joanna Yarrow - author of 1,001 Ways You Can Save The Planet (Duncan Baird, £7.99) - there are three types of plastic here, all of them unnecessary. 'We're in the middle of a fuel crisis, and yet 8 per cent of the oil we extract goes into the manufacture of plastic,' she says. 'Polystyrene is plastic with air blown into it. It's too brittle to be reused and can't be recycled, so it ends up in landfill sites, where it takes up to 500 years to break down. Plastic molecules have been found in almost every ecosystem in the world, even in the North and South Poles. They're virtually indestructible. 'The tray could instead be made from recycled cardboard, like an egg box, which can then be recycled or composted. As for the clingfilm covering and hard plastic lid, they can't be recycled together and will also probably end up in landfill. They're also pointless. Why can't the pears be sold loose and placed in a paper bag?'

Other crimes: These pears are imported from Holland. Transporting them to our supermarket uses up fuel and pollutes the environment. British pears are available.

GILLETTE MACH 3 POWER BATTERY OPERATED RAZOR
Cost: £8.99 (Boots)
Packaging offence: It is displayed on a moulded plastic tray which slots on to a piece of laminated cardboard. Around this is another piece of plastic. The whole thing is sealed within another plastic case.

Environmental impact: The only reason for using this much unrecyclable plastic is to make the razor look more substantial and attractive, and to drive up the price. You're paying about £2 for the plastic, which will be thrown away as soon as you've removed the razor. It will end up in landfill, where it will take hundreds of years to break down. Laminating or coating cardboard with foil makes it more difficult to recycle. If it can be recycled, it produces only the lowest-grade pulp.

Other crimes: This razor is battery-powered, which seems unnecessary - why can't you just use your hand to move the razor? Batteries contain heavy metals, such as cadmium, which leak out and can contaminate ground water and, consequently, drinking water. It also takes a lot of materials and energy to produce batteries. If you're going to use batteries, you should buy rechargeable ones.

FERRERO ROCHER BOX OF 24 CHOCOLATES, 300g
Cost: £4.99 ( Woolworth's)
Packaging offence: Each chocolate is individually wrapped in foil, with a Ferrero Rocher label on top. The chocolates are presented in individual compartments within a plastic tray. This tray is encased in a hard plastic box with removable plastic lid. There's also a separate piece of cardboard displaying the product information.

Environmental impact: Ambassador, with these chocolates you are spoiling the environment. There's no need for layer upon layer of unrecyclable plastic. Yes, the foil wrappers can be recycled, but only if you have the patience to remove each label first.