Take it all off at the checkout stand!

This is great! A UK minister advises his constituents to drive home the point about excess packaging - by pulling all the extra stuff off at the checkout stand! 3 reporters tell their personal stories about following his advice:

'The government told us to do it'

November 15, 2006
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/backbench/story/0,,1948099,00.html
The Guardian, UK

This week environment minister Ben Bradshaw urged shoppers to teach supermarkets a lesson by dumping wasteful packaging at the cash till. It's not often a member of the government recommends direct action.

What would the big chains make of it? We sent three writers to find out ...

a sampling:

"The ready meals deserve a whole packaging exhibition to themselves: there is foil wrapped in plastic, and plastic wrapped in cardboard, with cardboard labels wrapped over everything wherever possible. Maybe the cardboard is recycled, but really, it ain't good enough."

"I hear the tutting from the people in the queue. "If you don't stop I'm going to have to get the manager," says the woman in the body warmer. "I'm just taking the packaging off, like the environment minister told us to," I reply."

""Don't worry about the smell," I grin desperately, ripping open a plastic packet of mint three times as large as its contents. A minty aroma fills the air. Shopping this way is so much more sensual."