Good Energy

The guys at Good Energy have been really supportive and excited about the expedition, so much so that they have made a contribution which allows me to keep the blog regularly updated during the expedition, so they and everyone else can follow the journey. Good Energy supplies 100% renewable electricity sourced from wind, water, sun and sustainable biomass. CO2 from coal-fired electricity generation is one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions in the world. Switch your electricity supply to Good Energy using this link and not only will you be supporting the pioneering community of independent green generators, but for every sign up they get they’ll make another donation to help get the bus around the world. It helps you cut your personal CO2 emissions, helps them grow a great business, and helps me get round the world.


Friday 26 June 2009

Supermarket Sweep

While shopping at my local Tescos it dawned on me that the baskets would make great storage units for the bus. A chain of thought which set into motion an almighty chain of events.

I asked at the checkout if they could let me have some broken ones, and worked my way up the "food chain" til I got to the shift manager, who gave me the number of head office, who said they would look into it. And there I gave up on it, cos when someone on a helpline at head office says they will call you back, you know that's the end of it.

Less than a week later I got a voice mail from Tescos head office; they'd be delighted to give me two baskets. (- maybe one for each tonne of carbon?).

Armed with press cuttings I went to collect the baskets and managed to persuade the customer support manager that it was worth give me a few and out of the pile of 10 she had, she gave me half - so I am now the proud owner of 5 broken shopping baskets which will be cleaned and turned into draws.

Next Sainsburys, and Asda and...

There's a lesson in this about corporate recycling which is quite encouraging.

Tescos (and the others) are responsible for their baskets turning into waste, and as such are a bit scared to let any old Joe have them who might them rip them up (but for the Tesco logo on them) and leave them lying around the urban landscape. So they have a strict protocol and SLAs with contractors who dispose of their waste in a way which is no doubt the best way to do it (or the cheapest??). And unfortunately for me when curve ball idea comes along their strict protocol cannot compute.

5 down 15 to go.

3 comments:

  1. Co-op: 0. Apparently their baskets don't break.

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  2. Asda are putting broken baskets to one side for me. I'll give them a call in 10 days to see how many they have. Thanks.

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  3. 3 from Asda - but I found them at the recycling centre and the boss there sold them to me for a quid. It says on them "Do not remove". For the record, I didn't.

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