National targets for recycling cannot be reached while some manufacturer’s plastic packaging provides no information regarding recycling. Meanwhile others state the container is recyclable but not the lid, and others place onus on consumers to check local policy. Councils and customers are expected to play their part in recycling - What are manufacturers doing?

It is important because it is blatant discrimination against Campervans (and Minibuses)

Between April 24 and May 14 2013, three young workers at Foxconn electronics factory in Zhengzhou, China, jumped from buildings to their deaths. 24 others have committed suicide since 2010 because of appalling conditions, such as being sacked if you speak at work, and ritual humiliations in front of hundreds of colleagues. Foxconn are making computers for Dell, Apple, Acer, HP and others. Computers for universities are made in factories like this. A new organisation, Electronics Watch, will work with public sector bodies and electronics workers, to investigate factories making our computers, and start to improve rights and working conditions. The Workers Rights Consortium is a similar body with a focus on the clothing industry.

TTIP is a free trade agreement between the US and EU. With the difference in laws in these countries, this deal threatens multiple areas of our lives. Our online safety, our food safety (The US use chlorine to preserve chicken), our cosmetics, our right to protest, the building blocks of democracy, our environment and our free health services. For more information pop into a local LUSH store between the 18th September and the 2nd October or watch the video below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVs0aGCGEAk

For the last 2 years running I've unknowingly been debited by a motor breakdown service for breakdown cover because of an auto-renewal contract. Unaware that the company were auto-renewing, I contracted with another breakdown service, so I had double cover at double the cost. This is a deceptive business practice that benefits insurance companies to the detriment of their customers best interests. It means extra and unnecessary costs to the ordinary person, especially those more elderly people who's memories are not what they once were. Three years ago in 2012, the Office of Fair Trading warned companies that they need to treat customers "more equitably" on these contracts or face a crackdown, adding that companies using these contracts need to "stop abusing the system". But companies are still abusing the system. It must stop. Scrap auto-renewal contracts now!

Because though customers may be able to get justice through arguing fitness- for-purpose for say a washing machine should be much longer than 12 months, it is never easy to enforce this law.

Austerity and hardship affects so many in the UK today and that number is growing. Whilst the efforts of Tesco and other big retailers to support those in need of food banks is welcome (through collection points and other initiatives), offering shoppers the opportunity to gift / donate their 'points' to the local foodbank (and in the event of those who do not have a clubcard, to by default donate those unclaimed points) could really boost their supplies. Good for the food banks, good for the customers of Tesco and good for Tesco too! Non-political, humanitarian, community spirited and much needed. Especially in the run up to Christmas.

As Sebastian Coe is the new president of the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF), he must remain unbiased and have have no outside interests which could affect future decisions made within the IAAF.

The term migrant can be used for anyone wanting to move from one country to another. The masses escaping wars are doing so in fear of their lives and many would prefer to stay in their home country and will go back as soon as it is safe to. We need to realise this and calling them refugees will help.

To all British retailers, Just over 4 months ago I found out I was pregnant. Since that moment my life has been a roller coaster ride of emotions ranging from so-excited-I-could-burst to oh-my-god-what-are-we-doing?-this-is-absolutely-terrifying. Indeed, as a FTM or first time mum there are lots of things to get my head round. Knowing what FTM means for example, or becoming highly acquainted with the toilet bowl. There seems to be an endless list of adjustments to be made, whether it be my sleeping position or how to sneeze without causing myself pain. All of these things I hadn’t expected. I actually said to a friend that I’m convinced the reason why it’s been deemed bad luck to share your pregnancy news before you’ve completed the first trimester is because the first trimester is so bloody horrible that if non-parents were to know they’d never consider starting a family. All in all it’s been emotional. One of the biggest factors to contend with is the effect of pregnancy on your body. People talk about the pregnancy glow but I must admit I can’t say I feel bouncing when every part of my body hurts, I’m out of breath, covered in spots like a pubescent teenager and watching my body expand by the day. Like any woman I take pride in my appearance, like to keep up to date with fashion and know that when I’m not feeling my best I want to be dressed in my favourite clothes. This has been a problem. On a recent visit to the UK I was looking forward to hitting the streets of London and Manchester and getting my hands on some maternity clothes. I’ve reached the point of no return with my ‘normal’ clothes and I was looking forward to shopping in the both fashionable and affordable high street stores. Sadly I shouldn’t have bothered. After dragging my podgy ankles up and down Oxford Street I realised that it was time to make another realisation: I was now an outcast of society. All the stores I entered (bar three) told me that they no longer stocked maternity clothes in-store, instead opting to sell them online. Now I’m a big online shopper, I love it, especially living abroad but I only love it because after 30 odd years I know my size. Being pregnant I don’t. Never has there been a more important time to try clothes on because I’m still coming to terms with my ever-changing shape. Trying to explain this to various shop assistants and managers I got some sympathetic glances and suggestions to try plus size clothing but i left feeling hugely disappointed. It’s not as if I’m the only pregnant woman in the world so what has changed the attitudes of the retailers? Why is being pregnant now out of fashion? Most fashion stores now stock a variety of ranges for different body types, tall, petite, plus-size. So why has pregnancy clothing suddenly been deemed uncommercial? In the few stores I visited which did stock maternity clothes there was a very limited range (usually just a rail or two) and bizarrely these sections were located in the most inaccessible parts of the store, requiring me to climb several flights of stairs, manoeuvre through enthusiastic bargain-hunters and rifle through childrenswear before finding my one pair of over-the-bump jeans. The store whose praises i would like to sing however is H&M. In virtually all the stores I entered I found a maternity range, clearly signposted and easy to find and with a decent range of fashionable clothes at reasonable prices. Were it not for them I would probably have burst into tears a few times during my shopping trip (I’ll blame the hormones). So to all the other retailers who have, for some unbeknown reason, decided to purge their stores of maternity clothes and move them all online; I urge you to reconsider. Having children is a wonderful thing and mothers are truly awesome at dealing with pregnancy and childbirth (trust me on this one) so please, please don’t alienate young mothers and make their self esteem take yet another beating. At a time when everything is changing lets allow mothers to at least indulge in a good bit of retail therapy. Yours sincerely (and pregnant) Olivia

The Blue Fin Tuna is one of the worlds most beautiful, large and yet endangered fish species. During August 2015 a shoal of upto 500 blue fin tuna was spotted off the coast of Cornwall.Due to their high demand as a good delicacy each fish could be worth over a million pounds. Current EU legislation whilst prohibiting UK fishermen from landing the Blue Fin Tuna permits French, Spanish and other European trawlers to land these fish. With warming of the worlds oceans the blue fin is being spotted more frequently in UK waters. Large industrial trawlers could decimate their numbers in hours. The UK government should push the EU to make UK waters a protected zone banning the fishing of blue fin. the will send a message to the world of the importance of marine conservation and that the UK and EU wish to make real progress in protecting the blue fin.

Cote has been accused by campaigners of “misleading” customers with its “outrageous” policy that the 12.5% charge goes straight to the company instead of being kept by workers at the restaurant where the diner ate. According to workers, staff are told to tell customers who ask where the service charges goes that it is given out between workers. You can read more here: http://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/restaurant-chain-c-te-takes-entire-service-charge-instead-of-giving-it-to-staff-a2918366.html