What a great and very enjoyable piece. You are right ot the core on the issues of recycling without even touching on the subject. One flight per person saves the same as a whole house for a year, just limit the amount of flight people take, or by the way, why dont the councils make it easier to recycle. Targets, there are no such things, it cost so much, they dont want to do it anyway.

D Jones, Denbighshire, UK

D Jones, Denbighshire, UK

A DVD labelling system? What is wrong with using a DVD-labelling felt tip pen? No sticky labels to dispose of when they peel off with old age. No damaged DVD reader when they start to curl at the edges either.

Charis Scott, London, UK

Charis Scott, London,

I thoroughly agree with Martin's comments. Two years ago I bought a vacuum cleaner from a manufacturer with a reputation for reliability. After exactly two years it broke down and after finding that the cost of repair would be nearly twice the original cost had no choice but to scap it. Fortunately I left it with the potential repairer! I have just spent half an hour "constructing" my new vacuum cleaner. Apart from the large cardboard box it came in every single one of the ten or so parts came in a plastic bag. I would gladly have spent an extra ten pounds or so for someone at the factory to put the thing together for me and save all that packaging.

Geraldine Stratford, Maldon, Essex

Geraldine Stratford, Maldon, Essex

This is a consumer society. The consumer possesses enormous power and can exercise this power in the decisions to buy or not to buy, where to buy it, the country of origin. And yet this power is hardly ever exercised, whilst the media is full of people bleating about the problems they face. It's really very simple - if you don't agree with the packaging, the country of origin or anything else, then don't buy it and tell the retailer why you won't buy it. Their financial numbers will suffer, boards will demand action, their purchasing folk will change behaviour and you will see the changes. There remains plenty of alternatives in most places (but, I know, not all places) to the major retailers, and China is not the only manufacturing country of supply, so instead of bleating start using the power you already possess and force the retailers to change their behaviour. And put aside any belief that this government will ever do anything remotely useful.

Clive, Surrey

clive,, surrey,

An excellent article voicing my opinions almost exactly. For me, it is the manufacturers and large retail chains that should be held most accountable at present. We all now seem to have cottoned on to the fact that shop items are often presented in a huge amount of unnecessary packaging. Leaving our packaging at the checkout is a good step towards making the supermarkets re-think they're policies, but we need the government to come down hard on the manufacturers before we will really see a difference.

Stopping the packaging been produced,the high mpg vehicles being made, cheap flights being made available, plastic bags being available at checkouts, and most of all "disposable" cheap electronics being offered, is the best way to move this issue forward. We need to step back a few decades, acknowledge our mistakes of recent times, and move off down a different path.

Steve, Forest Hill, London, UK

Steve, Forest Hill, London, UK

The polluter pays principle doesn’t "presume that we are the bad guys", but it does recognise that we all have an impact on our environment. At present, we pay through our taxes so that low-polluting poor people (who buy neither shrink-wrapped green beans nor lots of new furniture) subsidise rich people with houses to furnish and dinner parties to host.

Using the price mechanism to ensure that polluters pay for their wastefulness while the conscientious are rewarded with low bills is fair. It is also an effective way of making individuals pressure companies to change. Thus it is a simple but effective means of solving society's ills in an equitable manner.

Tom Papworth, London, UK

Tom Papworth, London, UK

If we must pay for rubbish we should be allowed to stop circulars, free newspapers etc being delivered to our homes. When my son lived in Holland, each door carried a sticker saying whether they were willing to receive such materials. Householders had legal rights to support their decision. We should campaign for this in UK.

G Jones, Swansea, UK

g jones, swansea, uk

I have a simple solution to the unrequested junk mail which arrives daily through my letter box, even when there is no proper mail to accompany it. Simply post it back in a Royal Mail letter box! My justification is also simple. The postman didn't give me a choice in receiving unwanted advertising rubbish which I then have to recycle. In giving it back to him via the letter box he can give it back to the company who paid him to deliver it so that it can be used for someone else who might use it. If not he can recycle it himself.

Hopefully if Royal Mail were to become sufficiently irritated by people returning unwanted, unrequested mail then the practice would stop, millions of trees saved, landfill space saved and fuel used to transport, manufacture or recycle the junk.

Deb, Aberdeen, UK

deb, Aberdeen, UK

In total agreement with you on this. Surely to make an impact on waste reduction manufacturers and retailers should be targeted to reduce the amount of packaging they use. As usual the Government seems to be taking the easy solution of taxes and charges on the consumer rather than measures to reduce the amount of waste and pollution at source. Meanwhile, the countries public transport system suffers from a lack of investment making it more economical to use air and road transport rather than rail. I was particularly disappointed with the latest budget announcement which did little to tackle climate change, especially coming so soon after the worrying results of the Stern report. Was too much like a drop in the ocean.

Rachel Chubb, Wilmslow, Cheshire

Rachel Chubb, Wilmslow, Cheshire

Excellent - an accurate view of how the "everyday" person is demonised in today's society by people in power with complete disregard for the people thay are supposed to represent. The problem is that as soon as someone achieves a position of power the first things to go are any sense of right or wrong and any moral fibre, all that is important is what is good for the party and how do we increase tax revenues without the "everyday" people realising they are being fleeced. The obvious exception being election year. I just wish that enough people would see through these "Green" taxes which are nothing more than a convenient excuse for the government of the day, besides why would they take real action against the main polluters, they all need a couple of company directorships when they retire to suppliment the meagre pension they receive from the state. Perhaps we should all protest outside Downing street or Parliament if Tony doesn't mind and get ourselves videoed by the Police for free.

Ken Wells, Ashford, Middlesex,

Ken Wells, Ashford, Middlesex,

Recently, as recommended by a Government minister, I unwrapped my corn-on-the-cob-in-cellophane-and-plastic-tray, Kenyan-beans-in-cellophane etc at the checkout and handed it to the Sainsbury's lady. She was more than happy to accept it, recognising the fact that I didn't want it filling up my bin. The bloke behind me waiting in the queue wasn't so happy and neither was my girlfriend at me "causing a scene". Hopefully being charged for the amount we throw out will encourage more people to do the same, reduce folk's embarrassment at doing so and force the supermarkets to change their ways.

George Bennet, London, UK

George Bennet, London, UK

For Christmas I had a DVD labelling system that came in a plastic container approximately four times the size of the labelling device itself, together with two cardboard inserts larger than A4. I am becoming very aggravated by the amount of packaging I am forced to dispose of each time I buy something. Is there nothing I can buy loose anymore?

I am now considering unpacking everything I buy in the shop I buy it from and leaving the packaging for them to dispose of. I am not sure of my legal position on this, but if enough people took the same action then the supermarkets would surely have to do something about their packaging policies.

John Barber, Bury St. Edmunds, UK

John Barber, Bury St. Edmunds, United Kingdom

I have to ask Mr Samuel have you negated any repsonsibilty for what you do (and this goes for all of us)? Do you buy those green beans from Zambia or do you go to your local market or green grocers? Do you buy the cheap flat pack imported furniture - or do you always make sure you only buy from the local furniture maker down the road? As for the workforce - how often do you check where the things you buy are made? Do you care if things come from China, India, Thailand? Oh, but it's so cheap I hear you cry! If you want a workforce in the UK, then buy goods produced in this country whenever you can. Yes I agree everyone has a responsibilty, businesses and government included. But the choice is absolutely down to us (the consumers) to decide where we buy and what we buy. And more often than not, it won't cost you more. We are the ones spending the money, making the decisions. You just need to put a little thought into it.

Jasmin Brown, Cardiff, Wales

Jasmin Brown, Cardiff, Wales

The Times itself is not blameless in the production of waste materiial.

The Saturday paper in particular contains many additions which are not related to the paper and are mainly unsolicited advertising material which constitue a disposal problem, particularly in rural areas. One Saturday I weighed the whole paper which was in excess of 2lbs weight. I understand the need for advertising revenue but this is excessive. Sadlly I cannot survive without the paper...

John L. Brewer, Totnes Devon, UK

John L. Brewer, Totnes Devon, UK

It is absurd that yet again this government, as governments before them, fail to address the underlying problems in our society, not least that of pollution. Like Mr Samuel I am fed up with paying for their failures and would love nothing more than to see a return to a time when we could purchase goods locally without the travel and packaging we now have to endure and a time that when you received post it was something actually meant for you and not some random marketing campaign. I say good riddance to bad rubbish! If only!

If anyone should bear the costs of pollution, not least for the production of the packaging and its inability to be recycled, it should be the manufacturers, not the consumer. It would then at least be up to individual consumers to pay the higher prices that would then accompany such heavily packaged goods.

Liz Bell, Plymouth, UK

Liz Bell, Plymouth, UK

Jill Cosby drives her kids to school every day in her 4X4. She’d rather the schools were nearer, but they’re not. She’s not bothered whose fault that is and doesn’t make a big deal of it. She remembers she used to walk to school in her day, but believes times have changed and it isn’t safe any more. Her kids have added their weight to the argument that buses are somehow not the answer. So having herded everyone into the car; her schedule under way; she plays a CD and thinks about whatever she wants. A shopping list rests in the well, ready for her, when she finishes work. Every day they join a queue outside the gates. They unload from a store of school bags, games kits and musical instruments in the back. One particular day there is a demonstration outside the gates. She is told she is a polluter, the owner of a gas-guzzler. Whilst bringing to mind all her worthy efforts to recycle, in a vain effort to construct a defence; she feels that she has become the latest target of a witch-hunt by fanatics, because of the car she drives. A plane flies overhead.

Graham Moore, Longton, Preston, Lancashire

Graham Moore, Longton, Preston, Lancashire

Excellent article, Martin! The assault on the middle classes, however, is unstoppable now that all the main parties have jumped on this moral crusade.

Esben Bay-Andersen, Weybridge, Surrey

Esben Bay-Andersen, Weybridge, Surrey

All I can say to this article is "hear hear".

Beverley Kirwan, Preston, Lancashire

Beverley Kirwan, Preston, Lancashire

When I saw your article today I could not believe what I was reading, it was like you had read my mind. These are the things my friends and I talk about over a pint. We are sure millions of others think the same but don't know what to do individually.

Colin Amphlett, Bexhill-on-sea, East Sussex

colin amphlett, bexhill-on-sea, east sussex

Your article this morning really hit a nerve with me. As a small marketing company (just me!) I feel constantly under pressure to be greener. We are 10 miles from the nearest railway station - buses are limited so I need to drive just to get to my clients who are spread across the Thames Valley area. I now feel positively guilty running around in a Saab convertible and yet I work very hard to earn my very modest income. Last time I went to London on the train on business I spent the return journey sat on the floor as the train was completely (and I mean completely) full. I would rather have sat in traffic than travel in this manner! Keep up with your articles and perhaps – just perhaps we will start to make some kind of inroads in to how to be greener without being poorer!

Christine Rayner, Abingdon, Oxon

Christine Rayner, Abingdon, Oxon

All very eloquent and unfortunately only too true. Equally true is the utter and complete rout of democracy in this country, which has rendered us powerless to do anything useful whatsoever about this state of affairs. Any bright ideas (apart from unusual uses for lamposts)?

Philip Davies, Aberystwyth, Wales

Philip Davies, Aberystwyth, Wales

Jasmin Brown, Cardiff: Cheap does not enter into it. The corner shops do not exist any more. Nor do the "local carpenters". Not in city/towns anyway.

As to buying Chinese. I wanted a Traditional 1813 Prussian flag. I can get one of these from China for €35. However I wanted it to be made in Prussia.

So I found some one who would do it....for €5,000! I said yes. Then we tried to find the right paint.

It is not made in Europe any more. It is all made in China. Bunting is not made in Germany, or many places in Europe any more...Aye, you guessed it China.

As I see the point of the article is that "we have no choice".

Good article. As my tale proves.

Ragnar Vagmornason, Berlin, Berlin-Preussen

Ragnar Vagmornason, Berlin, Berlin-Preussen

Of course the Government should do more to ensure that those who use this excess packaging to sell their goods are responsible for the cost of its disposal, but we cannot absolve ourselves of all the blame. We have a choice whether we want to buy things, and when we do buy, we condone the method in which it is made, imported, presented etc.

When I plead with my local grocer not to sell locally produced vegetables in plastic boxes, he wearily informs me that a display of any wrapped vegetable will sell twice as fast as an adjacent display of the identical loose vegetable. You say we don't ask for this plastic packaging, but its there because of consumer demand. If you don't want it, then do as I do and refuse to buy fresh food any other way than loose and make sure the shop manager knows that.

Having said that, there is only so much we can individually do and the Government ought to recognise the part they need to play in reducing the mountain of rubbish we are generating.

Rosie Dorey, St Andrews, Guernsey

Rosie Dorey, St Andrews, Guernsey

People in government don't have original ideas, the people who have the ideas don't generally want to get involved in politics.

I have a friend with a thriving business, a florists. He doesn't have the time to handle his waste correctly so I offered to take all his green waste in the summer months. The end result is two hundred kilos of compost for me and a reduced waste bill for him.

Nationally this would be hundreds of tonnes of green waste recycled and everybody is happy.

Why is there no suggestion box to spread ideas like this?

Tom Varley, Warrington, England

tom varley, Warrington, England

Please would somebody make a list of the PM's holidays, and the amount of CO2 for which they are responsible. Exclude trips on official business for which there is a good excuse.

Julian D. A. Wiseman, Brit in New York, USA

Julian D. A. Wiseman, Brit in New York,

I cannot but agree with Martin Samuel that the main polluter is business and industry in general and that they largely get away with it. But it is not enough merely to complain about it, sigh and get back to carefully sorting out our rubbish. Profit-based society is the problem - it has got to go. Rather than whinge, help to abolish capitalism and establish a moneyless, non profit-based society where goods are produced not for profit but to satisfy world-wide needs, and production methods are not constrained by cost. You can bet your life that once we do this, industrial pollution in all forms will virtually disappear. You know it makes sense!

Rod Shaw, York, UK

Rod Shaw, York, UK

As usual Martin Samuel cuts through the claptrap and gets to the real issues. I do not ask to be a polluter, but no doubt I will be made to pay in yet another cynical tax(thinly disguised as saving the planet). I do not want the blister packs, the wire ties and all the rest of the packaging which is making millions for certain companies. They should be made to pay and there should be no packaging that cannot be recycled.

What is the point to waiting for strawberries in July, if you can buy tasteless red things labelled as strawberries in January? We can say no to them, but it's difficult to avoid the rest of the packaging junk - especially at this time of year after Father Christmas has visited my four children.

Taxing me is the easy answer (I've always paid up) - tackling the producers of all the rubbish is the real challenge.

Mike Rouse, Ely, Cambs

Mike Rouse, Ely, Cambs

I have an excellent solution to junk mail: send it back in the pre-paid envelope supplied.

Advantages: The sender gets to share the joy of receiving unwanted mail; more minimum wagers are needed to open envelopes in the warehouse that receives replies; the Royal Mail derives some income (and the postmen & women some work) from delivering it (saving we private posters the concern of funding that admirable service); the sender is ultimately responsible for funding their own waste disposal.

As a variant on the game, try returning two or more junk mailers their "competitors" junk.

I highly recommend it to everyone, and the more who play, the more fun we can have!

Andy, Rugby, UK

Andy, Rugby, UK

Thank you Martin for voicing one of the many issues I have been ranting on about at home for so long with my partner. We hate excess packaging but it comes on everything we buy because that's the way supermarkets and pharmaceutical companies work - and Royal Mail - don't get me started or I'll be on the soap box for a month, and then where can I recycle it!

We both feel that it is always us in the middle of society who bear the brunt of everything the government gets wrong. Also to blame are the monopoly companies who foist upon us every bad idea they make to make the rich richer and line their own pockets whilst doing it.

We do, as you say, try to keep a low profile, pay our dues and generally tow the line on societies rules but are always hit the hardest in the pocket and never seem to get anywhere due to these idiotic decisions.

At least my breakfast was made more enjoyable by a feeling of empathy this morning - of course I will be composting my tea bags.

Sheila Burton, Canterbury, UK

Sheila Burton, Canterbury, UK

Why not place a £5 tax on every piece of unsolicited mail? It should make a good little earner for Gordon Brown.

Nigel, Stafford, UK

Nigel, Stafford, United Kingdom

You didn't ask for the bubble wrap but you did ask for the cheapest possible price - a bargain was in fact what you sought. And the customer is always right so that is what you got. However, since there is no such thing as a free lunch, someone somewhere had to pay, and they passed it on, and round it goes until it ends up back at your door.

Supermarkets wrap everything in three layers so that it lasts, freeing you from having to visit their vile premises more than once a week, because that is what you asked for - but there is always a price.

So don't pay - with money - if you don't want to. Re-use something (but it is easier to chuck it in the bin). Wash it out and take it to the recycling bin (but it is easier not to). Pass on the triple wrapped onions (but you are in the supermarket anyway and finding a place that sells them loose takes time and effort).

There is always a price. The choice now is, do you pay with money, or with blood, sweat, toil and tears?

Happy New Year!

Mrs A Talbot, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire

Mrs A Talbot, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire

Mr Samuel appears to have deliberately missed the point. The "polluter pays" principle is not designed to penalise unsuspecting consumers. It recognises that markets fail to allocate resources properly under certain circumstances and that this needs to be addressed.

So far the "polluter pays" principle is the most efficient way of dealing with this type of market failure. Perhaps Mr Samuel wants to ignore the economics to make a political point.

Mark Russell, Horsham, UK

Mark Russell, Horsham, UK

Standby to see the British countryside disfigured by dumped rubbish as citizens seek to avoid this stealth tax.

Malcolm Barry

Malcolm Barry, ,

Friends in France and Italy get their bins emptied daily, Amsterdam twice weekly while the boring old English get lumbered with fortnightly collections!

Our local council gold plate it further: we are to be only allowed to use wheelie bins - no extras - so they won't take more than our "ration" of compostables (which count under Euro rules as recycling!) and they insist that we have large bins of food rubbish emptied fortnightly, rather than small ones emptied weekly (so we get the smell, maggots etc)

Mike Bibby, St Albans, England

MIke Bibby, St Albans, England not Europe

This is just like "Green Taxes". No way out for you or I but a solution is there if our government or council would invest rather than grab. It is time we insisted that our money goes into pratcical solutions rather than hair-brained and worthless schemes.

Richard, Harrogate, UK

Richard, Harrogate, UK

I agree entirely with your article. I feel this government is trying to blame us for everything. Thus health, education, the environment and so on become our responsibility not theirs. In this particular case, the new collection system is not accepting many items such as lids, packaging, plastic shopping bags, egg boxes, etc. The collection happens in the very early hours so it is easy to oversleep, and we are not supposed to put the rubbish out the day before. In the end we are recycling less: the collectors accept less than the centres; we have the work of sorting out the rubbish and then taking it to the collection centre - especially after missing a collection. We are working more, paying exorbitant taxes and getting the blame. It is disgusting!

Milla Whiteman, Alford, Aberdeenshire

Milla Whiteman, Alford, Aberdeenshire

Actually, by buying heavily packaged green beans from Zambia 12 months a year, you "are" asking for them to be available. By buying heavily packaged new furniture rather than seeking out second-hand or ready-assembled furniture, you are asking them to continue to be supplied this way.

About all you can do about junk mail is take a firm stance against buying the products endorsed.

Not buying stuff is affordable for everyone, and is by far the best way to be green.

Jenny, London

Jenny, London,

I agree with Philip from London. Wherever possible throw the waste right back at the supplier.

Too right, we have been on the receiving end for too long and it's time for a little "guerilla" action to show these people who's boss.

Alex McGregor, Plymouth, UK

Alex McGregor, Plymouth, UK

At last, a pragmatic perspective to counter the hysterical ranting of politicians, local councils and media luvvies on the subject of the environment. I am heartily sick of having the finger pointed at me for the current state of the planet.

Nobody asked me whether I wanted my cabbage shrink-wrapped in cling-film. My wife and I manage between us to fill a wheelie bin each week with unsolicited packaging attached to our food. The supermakets' response: we'll charge you for carrier bags.

Our local council has recently distributed bright blue plastic wheelie bins, so that we can separate our paper waste for recycling. Thanks. Several hundred tons of blue polyethyene bins now litter the streets, so that the plantations currently used to grow trees for paper can be concreted over and turned into housing estates or new out-of-town supermarkets.

And don't get me started on bottle banks to save sand, or useless little windmills to put on your roof. Beam me up now.

Phil Samuels, Sheffield, South Yorkshire

Phil Samuels, Sheffield, South Yorkshire

Martin Samuel hit the nail squarely on the head. With this government everything does come down to money and they have developed stealth taxation to an art form.



With regard to taxing rubbish, the latest soundbite, 'polluter pays', cynically disregards the question of choice. Miliband should focus his attention on the originators of the pollution, not on the unfortunate people who end up saddled with it.

Michael Jewes, Kingswinford, West Midlands

Michael Jewes, Kingswinford, West Midlands

It is time for the "polluter" to strike back. I send all my junk mail back by putting it in one of the return envelopes, including the junk mail which does not have an envelope. I unwrap the Zambian beans or whatever and put them in the bag I have brought to the shop, and leave the waste generated by the shop with the shop. But the bubble wrap! I haven't worked out what to do with that stuff as yet.

Philip, London, UK

Philip, London, UK

Yes but CO2 is not waste! It is an essential trace gas, without which plants would be unable to grow. Humans are responsible for less than 4% of the CO2 emitted each year - if the so-called natural world reduced its emissions by 10%, CO2 levels would drop drastically.

Tim, London, UK

Tim, London, UK

In the end, the consumer is the polluter. If nobody bought green beans from Zambia in January, Tesco wouldn't import them. If people didn't want cheap, flat pack furniture, Ikea wouldn't have been invented. I wonder, too, whether Martin Samuel has considered the fuel costs of shifting large boxes of air -- which is what an assembled wardrobe amounts to -- around the country. The price mechanism -- polluter pays -- is the least blunt instrument available for changing consumer behaviour. It is certainly much preferable to another layer of regulation.

Jim Webber, St Albans, UK

Jim Webber, St Albans, UK