East Hampshire District Council Waste Reduction Officer, Sarah Incher, is also Chair of the LARAC (Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee) Buy Recycled campaign. Her involvement with this initiative has changed her shopping habits; a look at her life provides us with an example of the sorts of changes we could all consider.

Sarah first became involved with LARAC about two years ago. Volunteers were sought to set up a working party for a national Buy Recycled campaign … and that was the beginning.

In December 1998, Sarah was elected Chair of the Executive Committee, meetings were arranged, and the campaign was on its way.

It was hard at first to involve supermarkets, but the local stores worked with local authorities and were very supportive of the initiative; eventually the message began to get through to head offices, and Michael Meacher launched last year’s campaign, with the full support of the British Retail Consortium.

Comments Sarah, "It really has been a hard slog for members with a lot of work going on in the background, but we have succeeded; Sainsbury’s is now a member of the campaign, and their Revive range of products will have the Buy Recycled logo by October this year. Tesco is supporting the campaign, and Safeway has asked their manufacturers to sign up and put the logo on their recycled products. We are also hoping Asda will join us.

But … is the campaign having any effect on people's shopping habits? Sarah feels that people are already becoming aware of the amount they are throwing away, but the supermarkets need to do more, and the Government and local authorities have a responsibility to influence people to change their shopping habits. Free carrier bags supplied by supermarkets are a big problem, as they can't be recycled and are used only once before going into the waste stream. Says Sarah, "Many supermarkets are encouraging people to use the "bag for life" or plastic boxes (made out of recycled plastic), and to make this work, they should not provide free plastic bags."

Many people think that recycled products are second class, and maybe ten years ago they were, but now the quality is high. Product comparisons have shown that people can't tell the difference; there are many more recycled products of the same quality as those made from non-recycled products. The price of recycled products has come down dramatically and many are now cheaper than non-recycled.

Sarah, herself, has changed her shopping habits since being involved with this and other waste reducing campaigns. She is an eco shopper! "When I go into a supermarket and buy fruit, instead of putting it in a plastic bag, weighing it and putting a sticky label on it, I now have a piece of paper on a clipboard, weigh the fruit, stick the label on the paper and put the fruit loose into the trolley. I then hand the sheet of paper in at the checkout. I get some funny comments and I am offered carrier bags, but what would I do with them? When I get home, I would just take out the fruit, put it in a bowl, and then throw away the carrier bags - what a waste. We never used to use carrier bags. I can remember my great grandmother telling me that she used to go shopping with her apron tied round her middle to use as a shopping basket. People were given a paper bag, or took a cotton bag with them."

Most of the toilet rolls, tissues and paper products that Sarah buys are made of recycled products. "Word of mouth and experience get through to people best; my family and friends all joke about it but they are changing their habits too. "

We have become a throw away society and we’re not thinking of the consequences. So now it is up to us all to "do our bit" by separating our waste for recycling and then closing the recycling loop – Buy it, Recycle it, Buy Recycled.

8 October 1999

For further information please contact Anne Green-Wilkinson in the Waste Promotions Team at Hampshire County Council on 01962 846629.

Site Contents © 1999 Project Integra.
Contents correct at date of publication.
Web Design by Alchemy.