For rather obvious reasons, it’s very rare that the waste industries send out samples. An occasional branded ballpoint pen – no syringe pens please – or a notepad, but nothing else.

Today, I received some marketing information from the manufacturer of a new alcohol-based hand rub. It claimed the most excellent activity, kind to hands, ticks all the boxes etc etc.

But the A4 envelope was wet on the outside and on such a gloriously sunny day it was difficult to imagine how and where the Postie may have dropped it.

All became clear when we opened the envelope. Stuck with a smear of adhesive on the inside pages of a comprehensive 4 page product brochure was a nice single-dose foil sachet, burst open and leaking as it passed through the Royal Mail sorting system.

With around 80% iso-propyl alcohol and perhaps thousands of such packages distributed as a single mailshot, that’s an awful lot of alcohol evaporating in the sorting office.

My Postie wasn’t pleased when we discovered the cause – neither was I – and grumbled bitterly about the sender.

Since the Environment Agency insist on grumbling about the disposal of empty hand-rub containers which they consider as chemical waste hazardous to the environment – pretending that the proportion, which approaches 100%, that is rubbed onto our hands is not an issue – perhaps they would concern themselves about this mailshot since the vast majority is destined for a black sack.

Next time, a nice notepad would be appreciated, safer, and far less messy.