Our throw-away society...

Regular readers will be aware that for some time now I've been writing about waste plants and how I'm opposed to them.

But I do also appreciate that we all create waste.  We have a responsibility to do something about the amount we create and what we do with it.

My family and I went on a community litter pick the other weekend.  We spent a Saturday morning going around the streets of the area we live with a group of people collecting bags of rubbish.

Amongst the more bizarre finds were a washing basket, a pair of pants and a set of furry dice - yes, the mind boggles.

But the majority of litter consisted of the usual suspects - fast-food packaging, chocolate wrappers, empty drinks cans, and hundreds of cigarette butts.

This makes me really cross, on two levels.  The first that anybody thinks it is acceptable to simply throw their litter into the nearest hedgebottom, the second that we are creating so much waste that isn't biodegradable.

I mentioned in a previous column about dog poo bags and how they're going to preserve our dogs' waste for the next millennium - I do believe that people should of course collect their dogs' poop but ensure that it's in biodegradable bags.

If we all do our bit, we can make a difference.  Each of us needs to look at what we buy, how it's wrapped, how much food we waste because of sell-by dates or multi-buy offers etc, and make that change.

For example, I would love to see a return to paper bags for fruit and veg and other groceries.  I remember my parents buying just what we needed from market stalls and the purchases coming home wrapped in paper bags, which were then reused for something else.

I have had enough of our throw-away society, and I'm sure I'm not alone. 

Reduce, re-use, recycle should become our mantra for helping preserve our environment for future generations - let's all commit to doing our bit.