Look how much plastic is generated by one modest lunch for two of Serrano Ham, olives and Goats cheese, all bought from UK supermarkets.

In complete contrast, by the tomato salad pictured above, being straight out of the garden, none.

You don’t have to be a genius to work out what our next steps in removing plastic from the environment should be.

Recycling is absolutely NOT the answer, but severely restricting its use IS!

I am trying desperately hard to only buy loose produce, but aside from my local butcher and farm shop, it is virtually impossible to find “plastic free” food in our supermarkets.

Let’s all start to put the pressure on the big , bad boys of the food supply chain, and see if we can make a difference. Try to only buy unpackaged food and if you cannot, as I found in the above instance, then complain loudly to your checkout assistant and to the customer information desk. Make heads turn!

And this is one time when the use of social media might be truly rewarding, by us all complaining on it vociferously about the over- use of plastic in the food world today.