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Is all the unwanted packaging of fresh foods one of the reasons why their profit margins are excessive compared to other supermarket chains outside the UK. Regardless of environmental considerations I would prefer no packaging at all if prices would drop to a more reasonable level.

Why are plastic bags getting all the flak, they are easy enough to recycle, in fact, Sainsbury´s all appear to be recycled. All we need is a better collection system for used bags. I am sure there are companies that would do this cheaply.

Would you consider adopting what China have done and ban plastic bags in shops?

Plastic bags: Please ask why the government plans to make supermarkets charge for carrier bags. First, this is yet another tax on the consumer which most of us really cannot afford in view of the huge hikes in bills for council tax, food, energy, tube fares and car costs. Added to the tax rises, I have less money now for my family than I have ever had. Second, plastic bags are reusable eg to wrap rubbish, for school kit, packed lunches etc. Third, if we have to buy reusable bags, they are made of heavier weight plastic, sometimes five times or more plastic is used and that can be more harmful and take longer to degrade. Fourth, if plastic bags were not free, I would just have to buy rolls of plastic rubbish bin bags to do the same job so the plastic would still be out there. Finally on this, even if they charge for bags, we would still have to use something. Cotton bags are revolting when packed with meat or fish. They are almost impossible to clean. I have tried them and abandoned them. Next, I like to have my purchases wrapped in plastic eg bread. It is more hygienic as I know they have not been fingered. I am not worried about fruit or veg as I can wash these, why not provide paper bags as the old grocers used to do for fruit/veg? I would prefer also not to have all the cardboard wrapping. It is recyclable but no one accepts it for recycling so it just fills my bin up. The excess cardboard is far more of a problem than plastic bags or plastic wrapping. Finally, I think supermarkets do a brilliant job for working mums - they deliver, the food is fresh and is well wrapped so it is hygienic and easy to transport. The supermarkets are well laid out, the choice is superb, the quality is fantastic and the staff are helpful(or at least my local Sainsburys and Waitrose are) and it means that I need only do one shop once a week and not struggle home on the tube laden with bags, difficult for me and unpopular with fellow commuters! Finally, there is easy, free parking -wonderful. Supermarkets - ignore the carping press and the fanatical single interest lobby groups. We working mums think you are brilliant.

Tax is successfully levied in scandinavian countries to reduce the number of diposable bags consummed in food stores. When do the government plan to take similar positive action in the UK?

Is there really a need to wrap fruit or vegetables in plastic packaging? I'm sure most consumers like myself find it annoying - I am aware there is a choice and you can often by loose products. What are Joan Ruddocks and Justin Kings opinion on this? Are we as consumers responsible? (if consumers voted with their feet would there be an end to excessive packaging?) or does the blam lie with the retailer?

Supermarkets are ONLY interested in PROFIT !!! I worked as a marketing person for a company and we dealt with many supermarkets trying to get our product listed in their stores. Not only do the supermarkets push you - the supplier - down the barest bottom price, in addition they then demand a listing fee - a charge for being listed at all - and then sometimes an annual percentage on top of that!! In the end, we may as well have given the product away to them!! It was an utter disgrace! As a result of this experince, I rarely go through the doors of a supermarket these days! I'd far rather support my local shops and suppliers - and we are lucky living in Orkney that we can do that. I sympathise with the thousands of people who do not have this option! And now, horror of horrors, Kirkwall in Orkney is to get a Tesco store? I will NEVER go there. We already have 2 supermarkets and enough is enough.

Supermarkets MUST begin to take some responsibility for the chaos they create in their wake when they open stores in towns. I really think they do not care one jot about the businesses that are forced to close because they just are unable to compete. The only people who could bring the supermarkets to their knees and make them sit up and take note are the shoppers themselves. Educate the masses who shop there and then there might be a chance. It's a minefield out there.

Look forward to seeing the programme tonight.

Suzie Woodward (Orkney)

The supermarkets make me sick. As a partner in a small retail business we have been using recycled packaging for years and all our carrier bags are recycled cotton. It has worked really well. Now the big boys are jumping on the eco-bandwagon and pretending that they first thought of it. If they didn't think it would make them more money they wouldn't touch it and they are frightened stiff that this gutless government will impose a plastic bag tax. Had they done so in 2002, along with Ireland, we would all be talking about something more important - like the soaring cost of food to those that can least afford it!

It feels to me that the food industry and supermarkets are the root cause of many environmental problems, but the consumer gets the blame.

I think the government needs to get tough with the food producers, supermarkets and local authorities

I would suggest the following:

1)Set a firm date by which ALL packaging must be recyclable.

2) Set a date by which all local authourites have to recycle all products that are recyclable. A real issue that some things can be recycled in one area, but not another. This is confusing and needs to be sorted.

3) Make the supermarkets sell fruit and veg in loose form so that folk can take just want they want.

4) Stop BOGOFs if they are a cause of the waste of food.

5) Find a way of restoring to communities small local shops that can be competative. The weekly shop does seem to be an issue. A greengrocers has opened near us and we now buy daily what we need with much less waste (and better quality LOCAL produce)

Rev'd Dr Mike Bossingham

A very recent New Scientist article pointed out that, whilst the markup on coffee (from the farmer) at the port was about double, the hike provided by the supermarkets was more like 20-fold. Can this be defended in any realistic way?

Dear Newsnight,
I have used recyclable bags for a long time and handed the disposable ones back for recycling (some online retailers do) My wife has always used an old fashioned trolley. So,to us it is an important subject. However, reading other headlines, it looks as if the problem might solve by itself, as many people might be struggling to fill any type of bag. That's definitely more important to all of us.

If supermarkets really cared about the environment, they would switch to paper bags and packaging.

Instead, they have simply found a way to charge for something that used to be free, and look good doing it in the name of the environment.

We seem to be obsessed with punishing people in this country. Apparently the way to influence people's behaviour is to simply charge/tax/punish them.

Hello.
I bought a joint last weekend from Sainsbury's, in a big plastic box with film on top. In the absence of a recyclable triangle on the label or plastic, I washed it before binning, in exasperation, and hidden underneath the 'mat' were the words 'Sorry, not yet recyclable' or similar words, ONLY visible on the double-sided label when this 'mat' was removed, from the inside. Whoever is responsible for this obviously has no conception of the alienating effect this has on customers such as myself. And why, when so many other stores produce recyclable packaging, can Sainsbury's not? Shame on them and thank you Newsnight for this opportunity for people to express their dismay at Sainsbury's for so much of their packaging being non-recyclable.

In relation to supermarkets and the environment in a more local sense, I would like to ask whether the big (and smaller) players consider themselves to be responsible for the litter caused by their operations?

For example, in Horwich, Bolton, at the Tesco's where I shop, the margins of the store together with the nearby main road is continually filled with debris from the store - plastic bags being the worst offenders, attached to the surrounding shrubs, fences and festooning the trees on the wayside of the road.

I'm ashamed of the mess as I pass and wish either the local authority, or better still, Tesco themselves, with their record profits this year, would make themselves responsible for cleaning up the immediate environment, not just at Middlebrook but all over the country.

Litter is a personal hate of mine and I feel that this country is sinking under the weight of it.

I find both the food manufacturers and supermarkets to be at fault. Most packaging of food is done to enhance marketing and not to reduce costs. A much better job can be done to lower the cost of food to the consumer by efficiency in packaging, distribution and display. With inflation and a bad economy changes will become a necessity.

How feasible would a joint partnership between a major brand supermarket and the UN be, to operate in strife-torn areas of the world, and set up the supporting infrastructure to successfully cater to the intended consumers?

Why do supermarkets persist in foisting unnecessary packaging on the consumer and then abdicating all responsibility for it? Is the supermarket also in the packaging business?

If I could shop somewhere else I would, but every independent grocer and greengrocer has disappeared.

Produce (local) used to be wrapped in brown paper bags. We used our own bags and baskets when we shopped. It wasn't hard then, why is it hard now?.

I wish I could get more produce from my own garden and avoid the supermarket.

The difference between colonialism and globalisation is that, in a globalised economy, the exports go in both directions. A 747 landing in, say, Bogota, will be unloaded - the goods produced in Europe will be transported to outlets in Columbia - and the aircraft will be filled with goods produced in Columbia and "export" them to Europe, where they will be sold if there is a market. I see no harm in supermarkets offering such foreign goods for sale, on condition that the market can function and consumers have a choice.

I have two questions.

Firstly why do the supermarkets insist on throwing away food because it does not conform to a certain shape, apples for examples, or blemishes, potatoes for example.
I have done a small research projct with my neighbours and they woul quite happily purchase mishaped or blemished items.

My second question is why do the supemarkets insist on lighting up their premises like a fotball pitch, even in daylight hours. I bet if the alternate rows of lights were turned off nobody would notice the difference, which would in turn benefit the environment

Yours Sincerely
Philip Heath

The difference between colonialism and globalisation is that, in a globalised economy, the exports go in both directions. A 747 landing in, say, Bogota, will be unloaded - the goods produced in Europe will be transported to outlets in Columbia - and the aircraft will be filled with goods produced in Columbia and "export" them to Europe, where they will be sold if there is a market. I see no harm in supermarkets offering such foreign goods for sale, on condition that the market can function and consumers have a choice.

As one of the supermarket says "every little helps" - every plastic bag, every plastic bottle, every bit of packaging contributes to our growing environmental problem.

We as a nation, need to change our way of shopping, our habits, and do every bit we can to reduce over use of plastics & recycle more.

I carry a large handbag & a foldable carrier with me all the time so i often put shopping in my bags.
But i noted the number of orange JS plastics bag (& other colours from different shops) in the office bins after lunch. I wondered if the shops charge customers for each plastic bag, would people use less and bin less. The colleague who sits next to me bin one orange JS bag a day every lunch time.

Why is it that the milk price in the UK hovers around the cost of production and is amongst the lowest in Europe? Production in the UK is now below quota.
In a supposed free market if you visit the Tesco price comparison web site one product which is always identically priced across the major retailers is milk.
It is nerve wracking in the extreme not knowing if or when the supermarket will drop your milk order. Why should a farm business which has been profitable for generations be dependent on the whim of a supermarket milk buyer.
Why is it that supermarkets insist on lambs of a very precise specification which decreases the value of hill lambs which are produced in an extremely environmentally friendly system?
Many hill farms are reducing or moving away from these systems in an attempt to remain profitable.

Could you please ask ms ruddock why the government don`t encourage british farmers to grow more variable crops instead of the supermarkets having to import so much in the way of fruit and vegetables. Surely our clever scientists could come up with ways to overcome weather and growing problems.????

There is a credit crunch yet supermarkets continue to announce record profits in the billions. They do not need to put prices up. This is pure greed. Good for the few and disastrous for the many.

Fantastic and well done on the bag for life initiative that all supermarkets have now got round to implementing. Next stop please Mr King is that all packaging is recycled and recyclable. Then could fruit/veg be sold loose with wicker baskets to take them to checkout for weighing, and then fruit/veg put into shoppers' own bags/baskets. (Happens in German organic supermarkets - check out Alnatura as they are very good). Also how about boosting local producers by allowing them to sell into supermarkets directly. Like those bookshop managers who used to pick their own stock, how about giving each branch manager a budget to buy in local goods, sell them at a price where a fair deal goes to the local farmer/producer, and the range is seasonal and has its own area so local people can support the local economy. Last of all, can you please use that carpark space more creatively in off-peak periods. Take a section of carpark space and offer a basketball/football area for the local children so that they can have fun while their parents' shop. Ikea can do it with smaller children, so why can't the supermarkets find some way to turn dead space into an attractive area which can convert back to parking at peak periods. Pull out and in fencing could make the area safe, and a play coordinator could oversee the area and numbers for safety. Supermarkets are here to stay so why don't we accept them, and let them embrace their community in a more meaningful way.

Hi newsnight team

Please please please stop using expensive, unnecessary packaging.

Safeway used to provide large paper bags in which to carry the shopping - why can't the supermarkets provide these, if they have to.

Let's have signs in the car parks and at the entrances to the shops saying, for example "HAVE YOU REMEMBERED TO BRING YOUR RECYCLABLE SHOPPING BAGS/BAGS FOR LIFE". I very often forget to bring mine from the car. However the shoppping can easily be loaded into the trolley then transferred into the bags at the car.

Before the government/local councils start fining us for the amount of waste in our wheelie bins, perhaps they should be fining the companies producing all the packaging waste in the first place,then we wouldn't have to dispose of it!

Thank you for the opportunity to air our views to the supermarkets and the government.

I have two questions.

Firstly why do the supermarkets insist on throwing away food because it does not conform to a certain shape, apples for examples, or blemishes, potatoes for example.
I have done a small research projct with my neighbours and they woul quite happily purchase mishaped or blemished items.

My second question is why do the supemarkets insist on lighting up their premises like a fotball pitch, even in daylight hours. I bet if the alternate rows of lights were turned off nobody would notice the difference, which would in turn benefit the environment

Yours Sincerely
Philip Heath

Do you feel that Sainsburys, and their suppliers, generate excessive truck-miles, and what are the impediments to Sainsburys, their suppliers and all the other supermarkets making greater use of rail for distrubtion for the trunk hauls to more localised distribution centres?

Why do supermarkets keep promoting out of season fresh produce? Who wants to eat strawberries 12 months of the year? Let's get back to a more sustainable way of living or this planet is going to go hungry.

Why do check-out operators at Sainsbury's almost invariably place one or more plastic bags at the ready, even when they can clearly see that you are carrying a shopping bag? They exacerbate the proliferation of bags in circulation. Why not rather ask, "Do you need a bag?" Frequently there are 'volunteers' standing at check-out, grabbing your purchases and shoving them into plastic bags before you have a chance to intercede. It may speed up the check-out time, but again it increases the take-up of [often unwanted and un-necessary] carrier-bags.

As Sainsbury's sells around 15% of the food we eat they are roughly responsible for 15% of the farmed land. Can they say that they are paying farmers (directly or indirectly via processors etc) enough to farm and breed animals in ways which do not harm the environment compromise animal welfare and damage overseas communities? Farming is a huge environmental operation, and as the main gatekeeper between consumers and producers, they must surely know they need to do more to ensure it's sustainable?

I want to know which supermarket will be the first to offer their own British Government or Police service, perhaps a new NHS or what about a Forign service. They seem to think that selling cabbage and beans is a bit restrictive.

Question for Supermarkets

What effort are you making to reflect UK seasons in the food you sell. Why do you need (for example) to ship in produce like Marrows when they can be grown in the UK?

Regards

John

What are supermarkets doing about the Peak Oil situation? Answer, nothing, they continue to drive the message to people to consume MORE.

How will supermarkets cope when their centralised distribution networks no longer work when the price of oil prohibits their millions of road miles?

People vote with their feet. 5 years of no supermarkets is my small step to supermarket-free land.

Dear Newsnight,

I tried to respond via your link yesterday and didn't make it through, (Error 501) not responding.

The growth of our national (and now international) supermarkets has been driven by the consumer, not their management teams. J. Sainsbury or Sainsbury's and Tesco have followed generally well known and developed management techniques and skills (from the US) to offer a wide range of products. Our out of town shopping centre is an American mall; a previous government bought the American dream with the widespread development of the US retailing park. We then bought US retailing, US banking, US investment expertise, their legal services and cars. Such was the bond between Mrs. Thatcher and the US that they bought more British firms and indeed offered even more of their own brands; Kellogg is an example of a US company that has had a presence here for over 60 years. Those at the top of supermarkets are following a well trodden path made by Wal Mart and a very mature US business market place. This is not management genius; this is fourth generation management thinking that originated from the US but perhaps we are too dense to see it. Some of us that have been professionally trained unfortunately already know the truth.

The real change in perception is that 25 years ago working for a supermarket was seen to be somehow of a lower social standing; you were less intelligent for merely filling the shelves but today its financial mite has quashed many other businesses instead. I know all of this through personal experience as a student and now qualified manager so the above is no ordinary account of how it really is. My opinion is a learned one without the doctorate in macro management.

The real revolution has not been the products themselves but the location, location and location. We have freed land to wander the retail parks and making shopping a pleasant pastime and indeed this is part of the American dream; more men than ever say they prefer shopping as something to do in this country. We have followed the US in greater customer contact through questionnaires, surveys and this kind of invited feedback; the greater information base the greater return in sales through knowing customer attitudes and behaviour.

As much as I think that journalism is an honourable profession the television industry does not see its own people in the same light, in that can offer alternative solutions with the same aggression and confidence that is necessary in business; Alice Miles and Kate Muir both from The Times regularly offer their experiences into allotment management and food self-sufficiency. Get Monty out of the garden and into the Newsnight studio!

If our leaders take the expansion of land use to stimulate retail sales (now firmly proven and expanded globally by Tesco and Sainsbury’s) and society is concerned about rising domestic food prices then the planners need to do the same for self-sufficiency. Improvements in global distribution have allowed a global food market place and even the local pizza flyer highlights superior international food ingredients to make a quality final product. Get the Beeb gardening team out of their comfort zones and into home grown expansion; I challenge them to do more than evergreen repeat the words of Percy Thrower. We know quality is the benchmark from which we decide to buy.

I humbly suggest you need Ed Balls in your programme instead of Joan Ruddock; our schools should be that wartime reflection of food self-sufficiency expansion. We will fight for allotments on the playing fields, verges and banks; we will fight for them on the village greens and in the parks. Irrespective of your family’s wealth a family plot can be given to the school children so that they can make their own contribution and bring home the green bacon! This is the root to political vision and achievement.

For the Jew (including Jesus Christ) the land is all important for obvious reasons; the same is true for those that don’t have gardens, allotments and the finances to regularly shop at Marks & Spencer to find that better quality food. The Beeb can move us to a new mountain of achievement if your own people not only seek the answers from the experts but actually seek to out-think and out-do the decision makers.

Here endeth another sermon from a management preacher.

Kind regards,
Richard DMS, DipM ACIM

It is true that shoppers to some extent dictate what the supermarkets stock.It is also true that we cannot grow our own pineapples or avocados.
However,in the past,grocers such as Sainsburys introduced the consumer to the vast majority of packaged or branded or new products.Now the time has come for them to re-educate the public to not only local but also less than perfect looking apples,offcuts of meat or whatever helps to reduce transportation,packaging,resource usage,pollution etc.We need a new agrarian revolution.
And if European Regulations are quoted,well,we seem to be the only Member State that introduces all of these to the n'th degree.

I have three questions for the programme.

(1) Why cannot I buy all manner of household goods in singles? Why do I have to buy more than I need because of the packaging? e.g. batteries, screws and nails, pens

(2) Why are so many items packaged in hard transparent plastic that is useless and not recyclable? Printer cartridges, toys,most hardware?

(3) Has the Govt taken any action to try and get the supermarkets to use recyclable plastic?

I buy fruit from M&S on most days. I like to buy individual items. With fruit like clementines I can't buy a single one, I have to buy a bag containing maybe ten or more. So, I can buy the extra quantity, eat a couple, waste the rest and throw away the packaging. Why do supermarkets sell items in this manner?

Did your interviewees actually personally themselves watch ´óÏó´«Ã½ Environment Correspondent David Shukman's recent report on the effect of plastioc on Midway Island in the Pacific? If not, will they commit on air to watching it this weekend?

We have all benefited from the rise of supermarkets and cheap food...the problem is that the side-effects are so severe. Even if we can afford to shop at the most expensive ones, we do not generally get the same quality of food/life as people living in countries such as Germany or France.
This all leaves us with the impression that profit comes before the well-being of the population. In the UK? Surely not...

Could the government charge a "environmental surtax" on plastic bags, part of which the grocer would have to pay when buying them wholesale, and part of which the customer would have to pay at the counter?

If customers were charged a hefty price for plastic bags, people would soon bring their own carry bags as generations before us did before the onslaught of plastic.

Failing a government tax, perhaps a law could be passed requiring supermarkets to charge for plastic bags and also to sell cloth bags as an alternative to plastic; the proceeds of plastic bag sales could be donated to environmental causes.

We have had fortnightly rubbish collections forced upon us. We are being 'encouraged' to recycle as much as possible. However, I have no access to recycling facilities unless I take stuff myself to the local council facility.

An analysis of my rubbish shows that at least 90% is packaging. I have no alternative but to put this in to landfill, in spite of trying to be environmentally friendly.

Do the supermarkets not realise that packaging is all thrown away? They spend thousands on the design of packaging, which is rarely looked at and always thrown away.

If goods have to be packaged, why not just a simple transparent bag, which will fold down for disposal? Have you noticed how much of the modern packaging does not fold, but springs back, thereby taking up even more space?

So, supermarkets - less packaging, please.

As far as plastic bags are concerned, how else would people get their shopping home? I reuse my plastic bags until they fall apart, then use them for rubbish - see above. Doesn't everyone?

Firstly, what happened to the large Jute bags that were the first one's to go on sale in Sainsbury's, they hold the same as five normal carrier bags, are strong, wipeable inside if something leaks and really really easy to carry when you're not transporting shopping in a car. Only the small one's are available these days but the large one's were so much better....and why aren't these much more prominent in the stores? Why don't Sainsbury's take the initiative and not give out or sell any kind of plastic bags and really push the jute one's?? I haven't used a plastic bag/bag for life in well over a year, it's not difficult to pick up the bags on the way out of the house.

And why is it necessary to double wrap so much? Surely products can be hygenically and safely wrapped without the need for so much wrapping, compostable wrapping (like that on the organic fruit & veg would be perfect for many items).

Finally, why is so much imported when it's freely available from the UK? Let's get this country back to a method of using fruit and vegetables when they are in season...I've switched to buying directly from a farm exactly for this reason...and they don't overpackage and I get twice as much for the same money....

Re waste of food:
Supermarkets play their part in terms of unwanted packaging, but there is another point that has not been raised.
On last night's News Night it was claimed that "buy-one-get-one-free" was the problem. However no-one mentioned the fact that so much of our fruit, in particular, is brought to this country unripe & in cold storage, but then artificially ripened. The items will inevitably 'go off' unless consumed in a short period of time. Result? Thrown away oranges, apples, plums....etc. (Lack of full sweetness or inappropriate texture are sure signs of such practices.) Supermarkets' packaging methods hasten the deterioration.
Again, this is an argument for seasonal fruit & veg only, less packaging and buyer choice of quantities.

Why as soon as I cross the channel - to Dieppe - is the fresh produce SO much better? Eg lettuces: in France numerous varieties, up to 5 times the size - literally - and half the price of those here. Ditto, almost all fresh produce.

Why is most fresh produce here "packaged" in plastic?

Where it is not, why are there no scales for weighing?

Why do you price variously the same items in kilos, pounds, and individually - for any reason other than to confuse the customer, make comparisons impossible, and disguise the real price?