Shopping obstacles: Joy Blizzard

My response to a recent big bill month was to abandon my usual shop and head for a large supermarket with a rather good yellow label section.

I had to lift a self imposed ban on the said store as I am not a fan of the irritating coin-in-the-trolley system, but needs must. Call me only light green but I've never really got on the let's bash supermarkets bandwagon. After all 24/7 chocolate is a good thing.

  Author information: Joy Blizzard is a waste initiatives officer at Shropshire county council as well as a nationally elected representative of a leading local authority organisation promoting waste reduction in the UK – the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee (LARAC). Through her work as communications officer at LARAC she has become a regular on radio and television, pushing the recycling message to the public.

Bagging up

I remember to take my own bags for both environmental and self preservation reasons. You can guarantee that the one time I forget them and come trundling out of the store with a trolley full of plastic bags, I'll be snapped by the anti recycling paparazzi and accused of hypocrisy.

But as well as “bring my own bags” I thought I would also try the “scan my own stuff”. Big mistake.

Nothing changes me from a mellow 30 something into a tutting and huffing grumpy old woman as technology that doesn't do what it says on the tin at the first attempt.

Each item needed scanning twice, and was then announced loudly as if it was arriving at a ball, rather than being pitched into my humble cotton bag. It was the bag that caused the biggest problem.

The self scan system knows when you are not using the proffered plastic bag and instead of warmly encouraging your eco-efforts or giving additional reward points it proceeds to shriek at you in a voice more suitable to a PT instructor.

I was expecting a crowd to gather as I was repeatedly warned loudly and repeatedly that my bag was an unsuitable item. All of a sudden, through the mist, that anti supermarket bandwagon rolled in – and I couldn't scramble on board fast enough. As well as turning pink, I've also turned a darker shade of green.