Alliance Antrim Councillor, Alan Lawther, has spoken out against the waste of excessive packaging of food products. He has called for individuals to contact manufacturers to fix this, thus reducing waste and its costs.
Councillor Lawther said, “Waste is not a glamorous topic, but it has huge cost implications for ratepayers.
“Antrim Council is doing its best to reduce the quantity of waste having to be put into landfill sites and reach EU targets.
“Measures supported by Alliance, such as the introduction of a three-bin collection service and the reduction in black bin collections to once a fortnight, are helping despite the practical difficulties they have caused in some areas.
“However, I became quite angry when yesterday I purchased a packet of ‘Multigrain Bars’. The packaging seemed to be far in excess of what was needed for the bars. Each bar was 10 cm long but the clear plastic wrapper was 16cm as was the cardboard box for the 6 bars. This is 40% longer than the bars and I find it hard to believe that modern machinery cannot work to closer tolerances.
“I got further annoyed when I read the logo that the ingredients were ‘conservation grade’. It seems they claim to be conservation minded for this, but what about the packaging that will need to be disposed of, not to mention greater volume and weight of product that then has to be distributed?
“I wouldn’t wish to pick on one single manufacturer as there are other manufacturers using what seems to be excessive packaging. I intend to start contacting them about their packaging and encourage other ratepayers to do likewise. Many have freephone numbers for customers printed on their labels for this purpose.
“The disposal of their packaging costs ratepayers money. Collective action on this may enable us to reduce waste and cut costs.”
ENDS