Lent Round-Up

Lent 2019 4 Minutes

Lent is over now  and I have no doubt you are desperate to know how I got on.  I have had a total of zero enquiries about it, so wait no longer!

I didn’t quite manage something every day, and I have to admit to a bit of cheating, where I perhaps sent two emails one day if I’d missed the day before.  Towards the end I struggled a bit with a poorly shoulder.  That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

I haven’t changed anything with my campaigning but hopefully I have planted a few seeds and raised some awareness.

For those interested in the details:

DATE TASK RESPONSE
6 March Email to Johnson & Johnson with shampoo refill idea Reply said ‘suggestion noted’
7 March Tweet sent to Sainsburys Bank querying why plastic bag used for foreign currency none
8 March Petition started on change.org calling for UK ban of black plastic packaging 2720 signatures by Easter
9 March Email to Terracycle querying facilities to recycle blister packs No free scheme but could buy a box
10 March Multiple tagged posts on FB and Twitter to publicise the petition Increase in signatures.  Over 500 by end of day
11 March Email to Easiyo querying recycling of their sachets Reply said not recyclable
12 March Email to Woackhardt Ltd querying recycling of their blister packs Reply said not recyclable
13 March Email to Aspar Ltd querying recycling of their blister packs Reply said “can easily be recycled but due to hazard of contamination as blisters are exposed to medicine we can’t actually recycle these”
13 March Email to Terracycle asking for clarification on blister packs Cannot be recycled due to traces of drugs
14 March Tweet to Ryvita – why some in cardboard, some in foil? Advised to Email
15 March Tweet to Pears – why wrapped in plastic? None
16 March Post on ‘Plastic is Rubbish’ Facebook group about blister packs No solutions suggested
17 March Email to Ryvita.  Why some in cardboard, some in foil? Comprehensive reply about cardboard & light plastic packaging but not about foil
18 March Email to Morrisons querying why items such as pasta are in plastic when flour etc is in paper Comprehensive reply with many points including a commitment to “own-brand plastic packaging will be reusable, recyclable or compostable by no later than 2025”
19 March Correspondence with Terracycle re Easiyo Packs Confirmed that the only present solution is to buy a box.
20  March Information sent to Easiyo re Terracycle Box
May consider it in the future
21 March Email to Ryvita requesting recycle info for foil packs and suggesting Terracycle No reply
22 March Contact form to Unilever with shampoo refill idea Waffle email about plastics.  Replied with idea repeated.

They replied with more waffle but acknowledged the idea.
23 March Email to ‘Faith in Nature’ asking why twinpack shampoo and conditioner is cheaper than refills Reply says they don’t know!  Up to the retailers.  They will invstigate
24 March Tweet to M&S asking if they take blister packs in the plastic return scheme at Cribbs They said yes!
25 March Email to Ecover asking why their refill packs are not used again Because they are filled in Belgium?!  Thought it was a good idea though!
26 March Tweet to Sainsburys asking why black plastic used for ready meals Reply said they would use all recyclable by 2025
27 March Blog post about free water-saving gadgets advertised on Twitter and FB 5 views
28 March Tweet to ‘Me To You’ asking why greetings cards wrapped in plastic Reply said ‘looking at ways to reduce plastic’  I replied saying ‘just get rid of it’
29 March Tweet to Unilever with Pears enquiry  None
30 March Online contact form to M&A Pharmachem asking for single-material blister packs Blah Blah about mixed materials being childsafe
31 March Tweet to Bosch.  Are washing machines fitted with microplastic filters? No

Replied again and asked for future plans
1 April Signed FOE Petition to ditch diesel on roads in UK  
2 April Signed FOE Petition to Environment Secretary to reduce use of pesticides  
3 April Message to EBac re microplastic filters in washing machines No they don’t
4 April Joined campaign to UN:  create a global and legally binding UN agreement as a priority. N/A
5 April Email to MP to help protect UK nature Experience tells me I will get an email eventually!
6 April Tweet to Asda about use of black plastic for sock hanger No response
7 April Tweet to Bristol airport to ask all its retailers to stop using single-use black plastic Will consider
8 April Tweet to Environment agency suggesting that all authorities should have to reach at least the standard of Bristol for recycling None
9 April Tweet to M&S asking what happens to the plastic recycling it is collecting Replied that it is going to be recycled into furniture, store fittings and playground equipment
10 April On-line contact form to Bristol Mayor asking for help to small business to recycle.  Currently most send everything to waste as it’s cheaper. Replies AND a phone call from Dir of Operations.  They are ‘looking at the problem’ already.
11 April Tweet to Amazon UK objecting to amount to packaging for one gift card Standard reply – sorry to hear this
12 April Tweet to Gardeners World magazine asking why 2 layers of plastic on magazine Immediate reply – problems with packaging splitting
13 April Signed 2 petitions asking Amazon to reduce unnecessary packaging  
14 April Approach to Horfield Leisure Centre for free gifts for litter pick Given 2 ‘family swims’ so able to raise awareness much more on Facebook etc.
15 April Tweet to Bristol/Wessex Water querying why so many envelopes sent in post instead of combining the letters Will pass to Billing
16 April On-line contact form to Imperial Tobacco asking about warnings on packs about littering of fag ends No reply yet
17 April FAIL!  
18 April Tweet to Gloucestershire CCC asking for deposit return scheme on coffee cups (they have one on beer glasses) No reply yet
19 April Tweet to British-American Tobacco about warnings on packs about littering of fag ends No reply yet
20 April FAIL!  

 

 

 

 

Published by alisonspurrell

I am a woman of a certain age (not 60 yet!) who lives in Bristol. I’ve lived almost my whole life in Bristol, with a short sojourn in Cornwall in my teens. I am trying to lead my life in an ethical way in all areas and hope to explore what this means. I have four passions and several interests so I hope I will have plenty to write about. My passions are my family, knitting, cricket and St Peter’s Hospice. My other interests are volunteering, the environment, reading, TV, films & theatre, fundraising, chronic fatigue, mental health and eating. My non-interests are animals, housework, football, rugby and cooking. I come from a family of four – two sisters and a brother. Our parents dies a few years ago. I am married to my soulmate Colin, an amazing man who tolerates my funny ways and supports me in everything I do. We have three children and two wonderful granddaughters. I am so proud of my family – we must have done something right as they are all good people. I have two sons-in-law who I love like my own and together we all make up a family unit where everyone loves and respects everyone else. I am a total hypochondriac but do have some genuine problems, some of which I may talk about at a later date. At the moment I am overweight and have just started to eat more healthily, which I think is the answer to weight loss. We were on holiday last week and enjoyed puddings and cakes every day. I work part-time and Colin is recently retired. This means that we have been able to spend much more time together doing some of the things we’ve been meaning to do – some planned and some spontaneous. I love this period of my life – I just wish I had the energy to match the time and the opportunities available!

Published

2 thoughts on “Lent Round-Up”

  1. Hi Alison, I do love your posts. Well done with all that correspondence-a very positive way of dealing with Lent. I just gave up sugar in my coffee. I did buy some shampoo soap from Lush today, no wrapping! We must meet up soon before I have my other hip done on June 13th. Gillx

    On Wed, 24 Apr 2019, 18:38 Ethical Knitting Nana, wrote:

    > alisonspurrell posted: “Lent is over now and I have no doubt you are > desperate to know how I got on. I have had a total of zero enquiries about > it, so wait no longer! I didn’t quite manage something every day, and I > have to admit to a bit of cheating, where I perhaps sent two ” >

    Like

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s