THAT’S A GOOD QUESTION, with TOM O’CONNOR
Why do we produce so much rubbish?
Most men over 40 will be aware of the dangers of buying a new business shirt with a collar suitable for a tie.
Underneath that collar, on a new shirt, is usually a shaped piece of cardboard and another of clear plastic, held in place by at least four deadly sharp little pins.
The whole garment is stretched over another piece of cardboard of about A4 size and held in place by another handful of sharp little pins with at least one hidden away and impossible to find until the shirt is put on for the first time.
The day they package new underwear in this manner is the day I call on my Scottish heritage and wear a kilt.
The problem of over packaging, however, is not confined to new shirts.
Many people will have fond memories of buying a famous New Zealand hot meat pie which came in nothing but a plain brown paper bag.
This handy little package served to keep the near scalding pie from burning fingers and to wipe the hands when the pie was gone.
Now the pie comes in a near indestructible plastic case which requires the hand strength of a blacksmith and the dexterity of a surgeon to rip open without destroying the contents. It gets worse! Particularly when travelling any distance.
Every morsel of cold takeaway food, from sandwiches to individual slices of iced cake, comes neatly encased in cling film.
By the time the end of this infuriating material is located and unwound the little piece of cake is unrecognisable and inedible.
At least the little brown paper bag could be used to light the fire, but plastic wrapping and bottles should not be consigned to the incinerator and only some of it is recyclable.
Time was when the cheerful local butcher, in his shop with sawdust on the floor, would lay a sheet of brown paper and another of white “greaseproof” paper on the scales and slap the sausages, mince or chops on top with an ungloved hand to the required weight.
With a skill I never mastered he would deftly wrap the parcel and tie it with heavy brown twine from a suspended roll and break it off with just bare fingers.
I tried it once and nearly lost the end of two fingers.
Now the meat comes on an incombustible polystyrene tray, swathed in that cursed cling wrap.
The days of the humble brown paper bag are sadly just a fond memory as we slowly bury our beautiful country under an ever-increasing mountain of unwanted and unnecessary trash.
Even burning it to produce electricity has its problems.
Logic suggests it is better not to use so much plastic and other toxic materials in packaging rather than find ways to dispose of it.
Sadly there is not much profit in logic.
- That’s a Good Question is brought to you by Tom O’Connor, a retired journalist, commentator and constant asker of good questions.
