I was watching that programme Shop Well for the Planet and it pissed me off how much of this is placed on individuals. The term 'carbon footprint' comes from a BP campaign because like tobacco companies, they know that if they can shift the blame onto individuals, they can carry on as normal selling their stuff. If you made companies pay the true cost of recycling their products through taxes, you know that Coca Cola would come up with a new type of packaging within a few years. Whereas if we want anything other than tap water, we basically have no choice but to get a plastic bottle. Loads of shops don't even sell cans any more because bottles are bigger and therefore more expensive.
But inspired by this programme, I thought I'd have a look in the Body Shop, because they do refillable shampoo. Three times the price as my normal shampoo. And to be fair, it's no more expensive than their normal shampoo, but it's just another example of the environmental option being the premium option. Nobody is selling own-brand shampoo in refillable bottles, for example. Having said that, maybe the actual eco-friendly option is not to use shampoo at all. It's not technically necessary.
