I don’t understand why pasta is packaged in plastic. It’s not like it is going to go off, is it? And it’s not like we need to know what dried pasta looks like. In Italy and many other European countries pasta is mainly packaged in cardboard. In Bremen I have recently discovered a shop where pasta is sold loose from large containers. I wrote to Carluccio’s recently, hoping that their beautiful pasta is packaged in cellophane. A lady called Paola Pignataro replied: “The majority of our pasta packets are made of polypropylene, resin code PP5, therefore recyclable depending on local council policies.” She didn’t mention why they use plastic in the first place. Our council doesn’t allow that type of plastic in the recycling box and it would not surprise me if the majority of it is not recycled in the UK as a whole.

Once we ran out of pasta following our family’s non-plastic pledge in May 2016 we struggled to find an alternative. When we came across the Barilla range of pasta on our summer holiday in France this summer we quickly loaded up our car boot. Pasta is now a special treat at our house which is probably better for our waistline!