Comment | youth unemployment, has seen a huge increase in uptake. Not surprising you might say. The figures, according to Further Education Weekly, show that for those between 25 and 34 there has been a 179% increase. But outstripping all others are the over 60s with an 878% rise in registrations. Counter-intuitive you might think, until you realise that with no upper limit on the working age, and state pensions coming later, today’s sixty year old may have another twenty years of working life ahead. Just time to enjoy another career!
Bin there done that! Some months ago I wrote an item entitled ‘Taxes in the Bin’ about the Irish Republic’s efforts to reduce the number of carrier bags in circulation, for both environmental and aesthetic reasons. Now the Welsh have followed suit, and from 1st October 2011, there has been a minimum charge of 5p on all single use carrier bags. The Welsh Government having concluded that this charge should be enough to influence consumer behavior and reduce the number of bags given out without putting an unnecessary burden on shoppers. Apparently Welsh shoppers took home an estimated 350 million carrier bags from the major supermarkets alone in 2009 – or 273 bags per household excluding those from high street stores and smaller shops. As the result of a voluntary agreement, members of the British Retail Consortium managed to make a 49% reduction against 2006 levels. Now, in the face of slowing progress, the charge has been introduced to push the target even higher. My own experience is that although we have an ample supply of reusable ‘bags for life’ at home, memory failure or impulse buying often mean having to buy yet another single use bag, and this is the experience of about 40% of fellow shoppers. Clearly this can’t continue on a national scale, as it is estimated that UK shoppers go through 13,000 carrier bags in their lifetimes (DEFRA); 80% of British shoppers put everything into free shopping bags; polyethylene is not bio-degradable with each taking 500-1000 years to decompose; and even if they are biodegradable and fully compostable, they still represent a waste of resources. Welsh retailers are being encouraged to help by displaying posters, making reusable bags more appealing, and giving positive incentives for customers to bring their own bags. Meanwhile, further afield, sportswear manufacturer Puma has announced that their kit will soon be recyclable. Talking to a German business magazine, Franz Koch said “We are confident that in the near future we will be able to bring the first shoes, T shirts and bags that are either compostable or recyclable to the market.” It appears that the company is following the ‘Cradle to Cradle’ principles expounded by McDonough and Braungart in their 2002 book of the same name. Professor Braungart is an advocate of the skillful use and re-use of materials so that environmental concerns do not limit economic growth. In practical terms it means that in the future Puma sports equipment can be shredded and added to the potato peel and egg shells on the compost heap. It’s a laudable ambition, but is it a great leap forward? My recollection of my teenage sons’ trainers was that they always smelled like a compost heap and I assumed they were already decomposing!
The Voice of the Industry 5