My problem with Pringles – Hayley Matthews

Pringles may be testing a new design of crisp can, but Hayley Matthews is outraged at how hard the current ones are to recycle and the potential threat they pose to wildlife.

Pringles tubes pose a danger to hedgehogs if carelessly discarded

My youngest son has recently discovered Pringles.

Not something I buy often as I tend to swerve away from huge food brands (I’m a hippy at heart) and all I can think about when I look at the tube is that picture doing the rounds of a dead hedgehog stuck with her poor little body hanging out the Pringles tube. She’d got stuck and died at the hands of a lazy human who couldn’t be bothered binning or recycling the tube.

I can’t stop thinking about it. It’s the harsh reality of our littering problems as well as a wake-up call for big companies to make sure their packaging is not a recycler’s nightmare, which is exactly what Pringles are. With a metal base, plastic cap, metal lid, and foil-lined cardboard sleeve, it’s no wonder that the Recycling Association named them a “villain” of the packaging world.

It breaks my heart how we cause such problems for our precious wildlife. People are not responsible, and we’ve shown that after being let outside after a lengthy lockdown. When I see people buying Pringles in the supermarket I have to stop myself from telling them to make sure they dispose of them safely. People will think I’m crazy!

But seriously, these crisps should come with a warning – mind you, some say so should I. So as I stand on the empty Pringles tube flattening it down to make sure it’s not a hazard to wildlife, I urge you to do the same, recycle responsibly and save the hedgehogs.

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