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Letter: Self-cooling trash

Published 29 May 2004

From Leo Budd

Smart wrappers are not a wise trend. They merely present another technological problem to fix when they are finished with (24 April, p 26). Yes, everyone wants their food to be as fresh as possible, to preserve vitamin content and keep the microbe count low. So why not provide it from the farm around the corner, instead of burning fossil fuels to jet it across the world, refrigerated all the way?

Aaron Brody sounds as excited as a kid in a toy shop about all these wonderful new ideas – but I wonder just how much R&D has gone into the problem of recycling items like the self-cooling beer can, for instance?

My advice to the mum who doesn’t want her kids to eat mouldy strawberries is to take them to the local pick-your-own place. Not only will they get a free lesson on renewable resources, they might even work off some of their couch-potato podge as well.

Seaford, Sussex, UK

Issue no. 2449 published 29 May 2004

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