Dying
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I'm just going to step away from the Grumpy Old Man thing for a second:
@MajorRage said in Aging:
My only gripe is the ridiculous use of plastic to wrap things which don't need to be wrapped
It is an interesting move by supermarkets, particularly when it comes to fresh produce.
I work for Woolworths here in Australia, and one of the teams in our area handles waste and recycling - everything from cardboard and plastic to food waste and chicken fat from the ovens etc.
The question about e.g. wrapping a cucumber in plastic while taking away plastic shopping bags comes up regularly. The answer is fairly simple: if you wrap that cucumber in plastic, the shelf life is increased by 2 weeks, and therefore more chance of selling it in the intended condition.
That means you're less likely to dump it as food waste - which can be diverted to food programs or farmers, but still requires transport and other "wasted" energy to get there.
All of our supermarkets now have a Soft Plastics recycling bin at the front of the store, so you can take your plastic bread bags, chip packets, cucumber wrapping etc. and put it there for free to reduce landfill.
It also makes it easier to label produce and therefore scan it at the register and therefore get the customer out the door quicker.
Even if they are a grumpy old bastard who wants to waste time in line complaining about plastic wrap
Who the fuck carts their rubbish back to the supermarket? It is hard enough to remember to take your bags.
To borrow a term from the politics thread, this is virtue signalling from the supermarket. We all know that the reason we can't put those soft plastics out in the recycle collection is that no one wants them and they cost too much to dispose of.
The answer is not to capture a tiny % back through a bin at the supermarket (god knows what happens to it after that) but to stop using it in the first place.
Even taking away the 'green' aspect (in reality we don't have a landfill issue in most of NZ) the annoying thing about this packaging for us grumpy old men is that we have to deal with the shit in the first place (and pay for it). -
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I'm just happy we have a big ole pit to burn it all.
Yeah, might contribute to global warming but at least it is easy
I do wonder about the 'landfill' concerns though. Yes, on a whole and worldwide it is an issue and tackling it will bring benefits to everyone e.g. efforts put into reducing waste etc but at a ground level in NZ (maybe excluding Auckland) it isn't a huge issue.
In Wellington the landfill sites are in places that genuinely are waste land. Scrub land that is no good for housing or agriculture. The systems that landfills have now capture and contain leakage and capture and use gases to generate 'free' power and put it back to the grid. -
@Crucial hmmm...see I figured that the bins were for you to dispose of the plastic on your way out...
That would be fucking hilarious.
Conveniently packed in the supermarket for you to unpack in the supermarket removing any convenience.
I thought it was stated the packaging was just to keep it fresh on the shelf? If it's not on the shelf it's no longer required so might as well turf the packaging on the way out eh...
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Who the fuck carts their rubbish back to the supermarket? It is hard enough to remember to take your bags.
Yep. I can see the point of bottle-banks and paper/cardboard recycling bins at supermarkets - it's convenient and helps recycling.
But plastic recycling bins? Why sell stuff in difficult-to-recycle-plastic in the first place?
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@Victor-Meldrew Jesus fucking wept. Did no-one actually read NTA's Post? Or have you old fluffybunnies forgotten already? It fucken lasts longer!
6 INCHES IS A BIG DEAL OK
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@Victor-Meldrew said in Aging:
Getting back to aging.... It's weird how some things get worse others get better.
My knees have been pretty much knackered since my mid-40's but have actually got better in my 60's. Strength and suppleness has atrophied but my endurance has got better - I can do a couple of hours clearing scrub/bracken/brambles non-stop which is way better than 10 years ago.
And is can still stand on the footpegs on the Honda despite the arthritic ankle.....
That’s good to know and you don’t live too far away from me.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in Aging:
Jesus fucking wept. Did no-one actually read NTA's POST? Or have you old fluffybunnies forgotten already?
Too busy reading the instruction that came with the incontinence pants.
You could try taking them off first?
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@Victor-Meldrew Jesus fucking wept. Did no-one actually read NTA's POST? Or have you old fluffybunnies forgotten already? It fucken lasts longer!
6 INCHES IS A BIG DEAL OK
There are other ways to make it last longer (and not those little pills). They are just not the 'convenient' ones for the supermarket.
To reference an earlier post about after school jobs, when the produce arrived from the market and was unloaded, one of the jobs was to trim the ends of the broccoli and stand it in water then store in the cooler. Same with things like asparagus.
If a supermarket has to wrap things like apples and cabbages to make them last longer then they are selling you pretty old shite. -
@Victor-Meldrew Jesus fucking wept. Did no-one actually read NTA's POST? Or have you old fluffybunnies forgotten already? It fucken lasts longer!
6 INCHES IS A BIG DEAL OK
There are other ways to make it last longer (and not those little pills). They are just not the 'convenient' ones for the supermarket.
To reference an earlier post about after school jobs, when the produce arrived from the market and was unloaded, one of the jobs was to trim the ends of the broccoli and stand it in water then store in the cooler. Same with things like asparagus.
If a supermarket has to wrap things like apples and cabbages to make them last longer then they are selling you pretty old shite.All I see is euphemisms.
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I guess most of you aren't old. Official
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@Machpants said in Aging:
I guess most of you aren't old. Official
"70 is the new 65"
Was getting the Suzuki 550 MoT'd a month or so back, and Mr & Mrs Dude rolled up on a Harley & a Honda 750 cruiser. Chatting to them, he was 72 & she was 71.
Respect.
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@MajorRage said in Aging:
Pretty one-dimensional argument you have there Nick
Fucking hell, you ARE a grumpy old man.e.g. wrapping a cucumber in plastic
The bit in bold - an abbreviation for exempli gratia, the Latin term that equates roughly to "for example".
Not a hard concept, is it? One example. Not an exhaustive list addressing the crimes you've seen perpetrated by your local chain supermarket. Maybe put your glasses on next time, eh Methuselah?
@MajorRage said in Aging:
Why is it I can do that any farmers market, local farm shop, produce retailer, but not at the supermarket?
Are you getting it at the same price?
Is the farmer's market also selling all the other goods you need?
This - and all the things you mention - is the price of scale, convenience, and corporate profit to satisfy shareholders.You're clearly a discerning shopper, so by all means, in a free market choose where to spend your money if you don't like something.
I'm not about to fly over for a fact-finding mission on the practices of every grocery retailer to give you the 400-page report on waste management, logistics, pricing models, and consumer behaviour in the UK sector. Why don't you ask the retailer directly why they do things a certain way if you think it should be changed?
Unless, of course, you hate capitalism
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@NTA way to answer none of the questions but blast out a rhetoric of nothing.
Let me be clearer.
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Supermarket return bins for their plastic are a waste of fucking time. They are a virtual signal feel good factor.
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Talk of shrink wrapping cucumbers (your point, not mine) as being better as it saves on resource use for transporting spoiled veges to farms is at very very best, laughable.
Your big on renewables, I’m big on plastic waste.
I’m not asking you to do any research, I’ve done loads myself and have asked the questions.
Hence I’m grumpy about it. And not afraid to call bullshit on it.
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@MajorRage said in Aging:
@NTA way to answer none of the questions but blast out a rhetoric of nothing.
Let me be clearer.
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Supermarket return bins for their plastic are a waste of fucking time. They are a virtual signal feel good factor.
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Talk of shrink wrapping cucumbers (your point, not mine) as being better as it saves on resource use for transporting spoiled veges to farms is at very very best, laughable.
Your big on renewables, I’m big on plastic waste.
I’m not asking you to do any research, I’ve done loads myself and have asked the questions.
Hence I’m grumpy about it. And not afraid to call bullshit on it.
You're big on renewables.
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I thought pointing that out in this thread was very apt... -
