POSE is all about mass collaboration. One of it’s central ideas is that large organisations will only pay attention if enough consumers ask them to change. But empiricism is also very important to POSE, so it seemed only right to test this hypothesis. Maybe if just one person lays out a reasonable, cost effective and beneficial change that would be enough? This experiment is designed to test that hypothesis.
Over 10 years ago scientists predicted that unless we could reduce our carbon emissions climate change would create havoc on the planet. Coupled with that, we have known for many years that our oil supplies are dwindling. We need to find a new way to generate power very soon or at least reduce the pace at which we use our resources. The predictions associated with global warming and running out of oil are dire. Faced with even a small probability of any of the predications becoming reality, it seems prudent to make significant changes to reduce our carbon emissions and use of resources.
However, 10 years later if you walking into the top 5 supermarkets in the UK you will see, in the fruit and vegetable sections, items still packaged in plastic, still wrapped in plastic containers then covered in more plastic. There is a suggestion that packing is useful because it reduces waste by keeping fruit and veg from going off for longer, but surely there is another approach that can reduce waste and packaging. Buy less then eat it, cook it or freeze it before it goes bad!
Is it possible that supermarkets are justifying their packaging by using the “less waste argument” because the idea of their customers buying less is not good for their profits? Surely not! But how to find out? To find out more and test the mass collaboration hypothesis, an email has been sent to the top 5 supermarkets in the UK to see if they are willing to change their fresh produce packaging.
Check out the entries below to see how it is going.
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