TESCO has announced plans to remove plastic wrapping from multipacks of tins, claiming this will remove 350 tons of plastic a year from the environment. Asda is testing an initiative which will allow shoppers to refill their own containers with the store’s products. 

But only just over a year ago it was reported that the move from single-use plastic bags to stronger ‘bags for life’ is causing even more pollution because shoppers are throwing them away instead of re-using them. 

Do any of these initiatives make a difference or are they simply a conscience-salving genuflection to climate change wokedom? Should we instead be facing our waste and our throwaway society by looking at it as more of a moral issue – by addressing our greed, excess and consumer addiction? By considering the virtues of greater self restraint and deferring gratification?

Discuss!