We just had to take a few moments out of our day to write a brief post about this snippet of good news. As the title suggests, the popular discount high street store Lidl has announced that it will no longer be selling any fruit and vegetable items in wasteful black plastic trays. Read more

In a bid to encourage Europe to reduce its ‘Carbon Footprint’, it’s now not permitted for retailers to replace their stocks of halogen lamps and bulbs. As of September 1st 2018, LED light bulbs will be taking their place, despite the higher purchase price. LEDs use around 5 times less electricity than their halogen counterparts, mainly due to the huge amount of heat they produce.

In energy rating terms, halogen bulbs are energy efficiency class “D” (which is bad) whereas LED light bulbs generally fall into the “A” class (which is good). Read more

In an interesting move recently, France has stepped up to the mark and said it plans to introduce incentives that should lead to a reduction in plastic waste. The aim of the scheme is to make products made with recycled plastic cheaper to buy than the same item made from brand new plastic.

France is significantly behind some of its other European neighbours when it comes to plastic recycling at the moment as it only recycles around 25% of its plastic packaging waste. When compared to Germany and The Netherlands, which recycled about 50%, it means that France has the second-worst recycling rate throughout Europe. Read more

At last, a real alternative to non-biodegradable food and drink plastic packaging waste could be within the world’s grasp. It shouldn’t be necessary to spell out that the implications of this are colossal and it’s hoped that everyday, disposable plastic items such as drinks bottles and flexible food wrapping could soon be a thing of the past. Whilst we’ve already talked about deposit return schemes and other ingenious alternatives to using plastic, a viable substitute to this incredibly useful and versatile substance really needs to be found… and soon. Read more