Perhaps we could fill our water bottles out of the tap .
I've noticed people in the supermarket queue who , looking at the contents of their trolleys, were probably strapped for cash. They had cheapo sub generic bottles of water amongst their purchases. Where do they think the water came from? I think there needs to be a campaign to inform people of the safety of tap water.
I'm suspicious of our tap water. During the holiday seasons (and other times) it smells really strongly of chlorine. So I end up boiling it and drinking tea, which is a shame as I like drinking water. But yes, transporting water by road seems incredibly daft, plastics aside.
Have you considered a water filter for your tap water ? Either a jug or mains water filter ? You may be more sensitive to the smell of chlorine than most people are.
The chlorine is added to kill nasties such as cholera and dysentery. It's been so long since these diseases have been a problem for us in the west that i sometimes wonder if we have forgotten just how many people these waterborne diseases used to kill (and still do in some parts of the world). I have the same concerns about antivaxers.
What drives me up the wall is when you buy something indestructible like a knife and it’s wrapped in a individual plastic coffin. They say it’s because less items get damaged in shipping, but how exactly would a stainless steel pruning knife get damaged when Crockery and glass, which don’t get wrapped up like this, don’t?
I swear someone bubble wrapped a spade I ordered last week, really? The sheer force required to snap a spade handle in transit is going to point and laugh at bubble wrap.
Oooh where to start. Just caught up with this thread I agree there is too much packaging in general. There was another thread in a similar vein. I said on there the idea of leaving excess at the checkout is not new a science writer Kit Pedlar (I think) was known for doing this with all the packaging round mens shirts.
I think some of the flimsy plastic is more a problem, some of the old stuff was durable & would last for years. I have some very old plastic pots & trays that have outlasted the wooden ones & the clay pots but they would not be considered recyclable in any way.
As for bottled water tricky- Tap water is bacteriologically the safest and generally chemically safe too ( except when someone tips the wrong concentrate into the wrong tank at the treatment plant, remember Camelford in Cornwall when 20 tons of Alluminium sulphate was accidentally tipped into the outgoing supply). The trouble is I have been to lectures in the past when the water people have been advocating all this but when you ask them about Hormones especially oestrogen from contraceptive pills they start shuffling their feet & looking at the floor. Feminisation of river fish living near water treatment outlets is a real problem & they have no real answer for it yet. Sperm counts in the general male population are the lowest overall than they have been for years.
Nothing is simple, the law of unintended consequences is ever active.
What drives me up the wall is when you buy something indestructible like a knife and it’s wrapped in a individual plastic coffin. They say it’s because less items get damaged in shipping, but how exactly would a stainless steel pruning knife get damaged when Crockery and glass, which don’t get wrapped up like this, don’t?
I swear someone bubble wrapped a spade I ordered last week, really? The sheer force required to snap a spade handle in transit is going to point and laugh at bubble wrap.
In these cases, I think the bubble wrap is used, not to protect the contents, but to reduce the damage they might inflict on other, more fragile, items in transit. The haulage companies probably insist on it to keep their insurance premiums down.
This is a great thread and its so good to know that we think about what be buy and how it is packaged.. Its great that most eggs sold are now Free range and in recycled cardboard egg cartons, which incidentally are great for chitting your seed potatoes..
Re Low Sperm count in males, many things affect this and one thing that gets over looked is Chicken.. Unless you buy corn fed free range birds, the whole aim seems to be to get the chicken to maturityu in the shortest space of time. So generic supermarket non free range chickens when growing, are given female hormones to produce breast meat.. These female hormones in the meat are affecting the human males sperm.. They are producing less sperms that have normal motility and a higher amount of abnormal forms. Eg swims in circles due to malformed tail means they never move forward to fertilise the egg.
So guy be careful not to buy cheapo chicken meat..
Did you know that China has this week announced that it will no longer take the Worlds non recyclable plastics for landfill.. I did not even know we sent ours there!!
In short we need to clean up our own mess and minimalise our carbon foot print, Grow more of our own fruit n' veg, keep chickens and even have Bee hives on our allotments. Kinga 'Dig for Victory' lol.
The amount of plastic in tiny particles in our oceans is very worrying, fish and fauna ingesting this are dying off.. Maybe trawlers could use fine mesh trawls to sieve the plastic once they have caught their quitas.. Just a thought..
Posts
Perhaps we could fill our water bottles out of the tap .
I've noticed people in the supermarket queue who , looking at the contents of their trolleys, were probably strapped for cash. They had cheapo sub generic bottles of water amongst their purchases. Where do they think the water came from? I think there needs to be a campaign to inform people of the safety of tap water.
Yesterday we ate our first-ever home made pasta for dinner. Now I know how to do that, that will be another plastic packet we can avoid.
I'm suspicious of our tap water. During the holiday seasons (and other times) it smells really strongly of chlorine. So I end up boiling it and drinking tea, which is a shame as I like drinking water. But yes, transporting water by road seems incredibly daft, plastics aside.
Last edited: 03 January 2018 02:57:16
Wayside you may find this article interesting:
http://dwi.defra.gov.uk/consumers/advice-leaflets/chlorine.pdf
Have you considered a water filter for your tap water ? Either a jug or mains water filter ? You may be more sensitive to the smell of chlorine than most people are.
The chlorine is added to kill nasties such as cholera and dysentery. It's been so long since these diseases have been a problem for us in the west that i sometimes wonder if we have forgotten just how many people these waterborne diseases used to kill (and still do in some parts of the world). I have the same concerns about antivaxers.
What drives me up the wall is when you buy something indestructible like a knife and it’s wrapped in a individual plastic coffin. They say it’s because less items get damaged in shipping, but how exactly would a stainless steel pruning knife get damaged when Crockery and glass, which don’t get wrapped up like this, don’t?
I swear someone bubble wrapped a spade I ordered last week, really? The sheer force required to snap a spade handle in transit is going to point and laugh at bubble wrap.
Matts, didn't know they were called antivaxers. They are Irresponsible. I believe homeopaths use the 'herd immunity' myth as a justification.
Oooh where to start. Just caught up with this thread I agree there is too much packaging in general. There was another thread in a similar vein. I said on there the idea of leaving excess at the checkout is not new a science writer Kit Pedlar (I think) was known for doing this with all the packaging round mens shirts.
I think some of the flimsy plastic is more a problem, some of the old stuff was durable & would last for years. I have some very old plastic pots & trays that have outlasted the wooden ones & the clay pots but they would not be considered recyclable in any way.
As for bottled water tricky- Tap water is bacteriologically the safest and generally chemically safe too ( except when someone tips the wrong concentrate into the wrong tank at the treatment plant, remember Camelford in Cornwall when 20 tons of Alluminium sulphate was accidentally tipped into the outgoing supply). The trouble is I have been to lectures in the past when the water people have been advocating all this but when you ask them about Hormones especially oestrogen from contraceptive pills they start shuffling their feet & looking at the floor. Feminisation of river fish living near water treatment outlets is a real problem & they have no real answer for it yet. Sperm counts in the general male population are the lowest overall than they have been for years.
Nothing is simple, the law of unintended consequences is ever active.
I remember the days when the population explosion was the current scare story.
Lowering the sperm count might have been considered a beneficial consequence perhaps.
In these cases, I think the bubble wrap is used, not to protect the contents, but to reduce the damage they might inflict on other, more fragile, items in transit. The haulage companies probably insist on it to keep their insurance premiums down.
This is a great thread and its so good to know that we think about what be buy and how it is packaged.. Its great that most eggs sold are now Free range and in recycled cardboard egg cartons, which incidentally are great for chitting your seed potatoes..
Re Low Sperm count in males, many things affect this and one thing that gets over looked is Chicken.. Unless you buy corn fed free range birds, the whole aim seems to be to get the chicken to maturityu in the shortest space of time. So generic supermarket non free range chickens when growing, are given female hormones to produce breast meat.. These female hormones in the meat are affecting the human males sperm.. They are producing less sperms that have normal motility and a higher amount of abnormal forms. Eg swims in circles due to malformed tail means they never move forward to fertilise the egg.
So guy be careful not to buy cheapo chicken meat..
Did you know that China has this week announced that it will no longer take the Worlds non recyclable plastics for landfill.. I did not even know we sent ours there!!
In short we need to clean up our own mess and minimalise our carbon foot print, Grow more of our own fruit n' veg, keep chickens and even have Bee hives on our allotments. Kinga 'Dig for Victory' lol.
The amount of plastic in tiny particles in our oceans is very worrying, fish and fauna ingesting this are dying off.. Maybe trawlers could use fine mesh trawls to sieve the plastic once they have caught their quitas.. Just a thought..