Thursday, August 25, 2005

Cat Skinning #101a - Logo inertia

That didn't take long. I'm right back to those nice logos and labels
you see on stuff. Little swirly arrows with letters and numbers.
Percentages of recyclablity, biodegradability, etc.

And here at Junkk.com almost daily we see all the amazing technology we
see being committed to justifying these labels.

But...

Is anybody listening?

By anyone, I mean the person in the st.. well.. kitchen. Possibly the
carpark skip. As they survey the debris field left after preparing a
normal family meal, do they really conduct a serious audit of the
cardboard, bottles and polystyrene trays before assigning them to their
most effective re-use or recycling stream? I'm reckoning not.

Where they care enough and/or are supported by a kerbside scheme, it's
likely that the glass and metal goes in one box and the paper goes in
another. Maybe, just maybe, the plastic bottles (bathroom products
anyone) too. If we're keen and have the resources the vegetable matter
goes off to be composted (I'm still hunting down the 'all kitchen
waste' composter - it turns out we did get in touch with a manufacturer
months ago to find out more but they didn't reply... no surprise there,
they’d doubtless prefer to advertise for money in a trade journal).
Even the shopping bags may get bundled up and used, or taken back to
any retailer who will accept them.

But that still leaves a fair old pile. Cellophane wrapping, posted
magazine sleeves, blister packs and a myriad, usually black, trays.

It's all well and good having spiffy logos on all these, but it's a fat
lot of good if no one has much idea of what can be done with them.

So here at Junkk.com we're going to try and start addressing this
issue. A bit of brainpower on reuse. A bit of information and promotion
on recycling. I’m thinking of calling it ‘PEP talking’. And it must
have a spiffy logo, of course.

Now, will the guys who got the guys to pop the logos on there, and
those guys themselves, plus the guys who collect the stuff with these
logos on help us out here if we ask nicely?

No cost to them. Just sharing some info and maybe a bit of effort on
coordination.

Watch this space. All I hope is they won't see it as an opportunity to
dispose of a bit more virtually before they actually have to.